Isara Rosenberg
by cloudofcalm
Summary: Willow's daughter and Xander's son, the hellmouth in Cleveland and a whole lotta trouble FINISHED
1. Introducing Isara

A/N: Okay, this takes place after season seven of Buffy, with one slight AU- ish change. Anya didn't die.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
The journal of Isara Rosenberg  
  
Monday the seventeenth of April  
  
Hi. Journal type thing. I'm not really sure how to start, this isn't generally a 'me' type thing. It's very much a 'Mom' type thing. Only, this would be all electronic if it was to do with Mom.  
  
Okay, jumping way ahead. That's if, you know, if people actually want story of my life and all. See, I don't know how this thing goes. See above, 'Mom' type thing. Not me. She said something about how it'd be training. Training for what? Mom makes much with the cryptic all the time. Always annoying when I was a kid. Particularly when she'd be like, super good at hiding presents at birthdays and Sabbats, and whatever.  
  
I get sidetracked a lot. Sue me.  
  
I'm Isara Tara Rosenberg. Commonly known as Izzy by all and sundry. I am exactly sixteen years old. Well, not exactly, as Mom likes to go into the depths of how much birth, and labour hurts, and how I wasn't born until eight thirteen pm. But I take it as I had to put up with Mom for fifteen years exactly, as my comprehension of how weird she is began just before my first birthday. So my starting festival proceedings a few hours early can add up to several days worth of pre-first birthday understanding.  
  
Mom also says I talk too much. It comes from being able to communicate in many languages, and also several dead ones. I was the only student in Junior High who could actually read Dante's Inferno in the original medieval Italian. Blame my ever-present Uncle Giles for that. I think he's supposed to have family somewhere, but he never seems to go home. Home being the nation of tea drinkers, scones and tweed.  
  
That's a really tired joke Mom and Mom's friends are always on at Giles about. I don't get it. Uncle Giles doesn't even wear tweed! Okay, he does this thing with his glasses when he's pretending he can't hear you, but that's pretty much just a Giles thing rather than an English thing.  
  
I think.  
  
I suppose I should kinda explain why Giles has all these big time old languages, and all kinds of freaky knowledge. And plus, why I celebrate Winter Equinox rather than Christmas. Or Hanukkah. Mom maintains that if I had showed any leanings towards normality, she would have made me Jewish. Nice to know even my mother thinks I'm weird. Coming from a woman whose goddaughter likes to kill things with large shiny metal objects, it really gives meaning to, 'Takes one to know one.'  
  
I said I got sidetracked.  
  
Well, here's the explanation. Mom is a witch. Her best friend, and her goddaughter are Slayers. And Giles, he's one of these weird English guys who stood around discussing slayers while slayers did the- well, slaying. Bottom line is, all the evil and nasty things that everyone thinks are fictional, think again. Vampires in particular, no joke. Angel, this big broody vamp who is supposedly fighting the good fight in L.A (personally, I think he's either gay, or a male model, except, he wouldn't really make it) is all soul-happy. Again, big explanation, but reducing it, vampires lose their souls. Souls fly off to heaven, the vampire is a demon in a corpse. Only, Angel's soul got brought back, and shoved in him, and now he's allowed to go around looking all droopy cuz he can't have sex. (Mom so thinks I don't know this)  
  
But anyway. Few years (pre-Lena time) back, Buffy did this whole thing where Sunnydale's hellmouth opened up, and big evil tried to kick the crap out of her. And then Mom did a spell, calling all the Slayers. Which means little kids from like, Timbuktu got Called, which kinda freaks me out, but Mom mutters something about young, irrational, and desperate at this point, generally.  
  
And they all moved to Cleveland. And Mom adopted me. Being gay and all, she didn't really have the choice of sleeping with some random guy. I do kinda have another mother, but she died years before I was around. Mom really loved her, her eyes go all soft when she talks about her, and it's the reason why my middle name is 'Tara'. Plus, 'Isara' is a goddess name, which Tara used to pray to sometimes, so, my names are like major nostalgia for Mom.  
  
So skip forward fifteen years, and you hit round now. I grew up here on Johnson Avenue, next door to Buffy, Mom's friend, and Buffy's sister, Dawn, who moved away when she went to college, then came back with her kids. Xander, Mom's best friend since she was little lives the other side, with his wife, Anya, and their kids, Libby (Liberty) and Lin (Lincoln). Libby's seven, and Anya seems to think that me living near by means unlimited babysitting. For like, minimum wage. From one of the biggest capitalists in our country, it's underhanded.  
  
Lin and I go to the local high school, and Libby goes to a prep school, (Anya's obsession with money) and Dawn's kids go to the elementary and junior high.  
  
So that's pretty much me. Izzy Rosenberg. Now I'm gonna go bug Mom for driving lessons, having wasted several pages of a notebook I could've used for school. Mom will be happy.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: This first chapter is in diary form. If you particularly like it, then review, and tell me so. I'm probably gonna change to normal third person speak after this.  
  
REVIEW! 


	2. Perfectly normal freaks

A/N: As said before, This chapter is in 'normal' style, but diary extracts will be put in as and when I want to. As this is just a practise in style and speech wise, plus pacing, I will accept ideas if you have them.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Izzy! Wait up!" Lin hurled himself forward, coming to a skidding stop and finally crashing into a bank of lockers. Directly in front of Kirsty, the girl, quote 'with the longest slimmest legs, and gorgeous-est smile, and eyes, and hair, and the prettiest way of scrunching up her nose' unquote. Who looked disdainfully his way, and then away.  
  
"Kudos," Izzy greeted her friend. "Crashing into her locker, and leaving a sizable Lin-shaped dent. Memorable, yes. Romantic, I think not, my friend."  
  
Lin groaned, and hung his head. "How is it I get stupid around her? And strangely literal," he added, thinking about it. Izzy shrugged cheerfully.  
  
"Anya and Xander genes. Bound to express themselves some way," she explained. "Literal stuff is Anya. The crashing, falling and in any other way ritual embarrassment is pure Xander."  
  
" So I'm doomed to fail romantically for the rest of my life?" Lin spluttered. Izzy shook her head.  
  
"Nope. If an ex vengeance demon comes along, she might find you attractive," she answered reasonably. Lin sighed.  
  
"I'm doomed."  
  
"How goes the Libby fiasco?" Izzy asked, shoving copious numbers of books into her locker, and keeping them there by the simple process of slamming the door on them, and praying they didn't fall out. Izzy often wondered why a spell didn't exist for this kind of thing.  
  
"You mean, has she gotten over the cheerleader-esque complex?" Lin rephrased. "Sadly no." Izzy shuddered.  
  
"We're a perfectly normal family grouping of freaks and geeks. Why would she want to change that?" she asked.  
  
"I don't think Libby had floating stuffed animals when she was small," Lin answered thoughtfully. Izzy discovered she'd forgotten a book, and had to re-open the locker, scattering books all over the floor.  
  
"Correction, Lincoln. I had floating stuffed animals, courtesy of my mother's amazing tactics for amusing children she cannot turn into toadstools. You only had floating animals because that was the one spell I learnt before I was five."  
  
"True," he nodded. "I still maintain that floating stuffed animals changes your perspective on life," he added resolutely. Izzy stood up, books sliding from her arms, and stuffing them back into her locker, unconscious of the numerous people they attracted. Lincoln and Izzy seemed to attract people by default.  
  
"Oh absolutely," she agreed. "Life just isn't life as we know it unless you've seen a stuffed elephant sail through the air." They exchanged a grin.  
  
"Class?" Izzy suggested. Lin smacked his hand to his face. Izzy waited patiently.  
  
"I've forgotten Mrs Radowski's homework," Lin explained. Izzy frowned, the Rosenberg resolve face rising to the surface.  
  
"No. Nuh uh, no way, no how, not happening!" she announced, at Lin's production of puppy-eyes. "I will not make you invisible homework! That spell doesn't even exist, Lin! Mom used it as an illustration! I am not pushing myself to the brink of explusion because you forgot an assignment when you were drooling over the school picture of Kirsty!" She paused for breath. "And may I add a hearty 'ew' to that? Get a real picture, and stop using the picture of our school's students as a tool to-"  
  
Lin clapped a hand over Izzy's mouth.  
  
"Nothing to see, or hear!" he said loudly, to the amused and interested clusters of others standing nearby. He turned Izzy to face him.  
  
"Your use of exclamation marks, Izz is as ever, astounding," he stated. "Now please, before you embarrass," he paused in his speech, and considered, "Okay, me, stop, and think of the life time of embarrassing stories I have about you, and-"  
  
"You wouldn't." Izzy's blue eyes widened in horror. "Lincoln Capitalist Harris, you wouldn't!"  
  
"I would," he said satisfied, ignoring her use of his extremely humiliating full name. His mother had had considerably more influence over his name than she had his sister's.  
  
"Just think. Seth gets to know all about last summer, at camp where you-" he began gleefully. Izzy, turning a shade of dull red, interrupted.  
  
"All right, all right! No public humiliation. Got it. But no tell Seth- age," she ordered. Lincoln stared at her.  
  
"You really like him, don't you, Izz?" he asked, grinning. Izzy glared.  
  
"Goddess Hecate, work thy will," she began.  
  
"Hey, no goddessing or Hecate calling. Magic free in the corridors, remember?' Lincoln said, laughing. Izzy folded her arms across her chest.  
  
"Yes. I like him. Happy now?"  
  
"Sure," he shrugged. "Not my problem who you have a crush on." He dodged, as she swiped at him.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Short chapter, to test response. You want more,  
  
REVIEW! 


	3. The demands of family

A/N: Short chapter to gauge reaction  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"How goes school?" Willow greeted cheerfully as her daughter walked into the kitchen, and pulled a grape off the bunch on the counter. Izzy hopped up onto the counter, and crossed her legs.  
  
"I am fast coming to the conclusion that Lin knows way too much about me," Izzy answered.  
  
"Ah. He used the fine art of blackmail," Willow interpreted. Izzy nodded her head, her fine brown hair flying.  
  
"How is it we grew up in this tiny street, and yet he has more potential for living off the proceeds of his knowledge than Xander does from you?" Izzy complained. Willow shrugged. The witch had mellowed with time, her red hair still as bright as it ever was, but the slim form was beginning to show signs of age.  
  
"I had more blackmail material available from him," she answered with a sympathetic smile. "How goes the Seth?" Izzy glared at her.  
  
"You were not informed of Seth. Either you've been reading my diary, or you've been scrying. Damn it, Mom, I told you to stay out of my head!" she snapped.  
  
Willow raised a hand. "Guilty."  
  
Izzy sighed, and slid off the counter.  
  
"And the dizzying prospect of babysitting Libby looks ahead. I find it worrying that Anya takes so much pleasure in abusing minimum wage," she considered. Willow shrugged.  
  
"Sweetie, I think Dawnie got first dibs on you." Izzy rolled her eyes.  
  
"Dawn's delightful offspring. Do you think she'd mind if I slanted them into an alternate dimension? Just for a little while?"  
  
"I kinda think she'd go through the roof," Willow answered. A grin split her face. "Hey, wasn't it funny when Libby scribbled on your walls, and you went-"  
  
"Mom, enough with the stories already," Izzy groaned. "Right. I'm gonna go take a shower. And then a long trance. Maybe if I can stupefy myself, I'll get through an evening with the three."  
  
"They're not that bad," Willow said reasonably.  
  
"Mom, Dawn has three hell spawn. How is that not that bad?"  
  
"Well, okay, so Ryan is slightly demonic-"  
  
"He has horns! He has horns, Mom! How is that slightly?"  
  
"Isara, sweetie, you're getting literal. He has horns because of that small accident with a spell-"  
  
"Hey, I was trying to exorcise him!"  
  
"He wasn't possessed!"  
  
"He sure acts like it!" Izzy shot back. Willow conceded.  
  
"True."  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Johnson Avenue was cool and leafy at this point in the evening. The sidewalk was paved, and the large colonial-style houses that the families lived in were white, and friendly. At Christmas, snow falling everywhere made the place look like a particularly corny card. Huge trees covered in green leaves shaded the gardens, and dropped conkers into them when fall rolled around.  
  
Ignoring the tricycles, and the washing line, with the string of garrotted Barbies dangling from it, Izzy pressed the doorbell of number seventy-two.  
  
A frazzled looking Dawn answered, her brown hair swept up in a twist, and her suit already covered in baby spit up.  
  
"Thank you, God. Izzy, please come in. RYAN!" Dawn suddenly yelled. Izzy covered her ears Motherhood had apparently rotted Dawn's brain.  
  
The small boy slid down the banisters, and came to a sulky halt in front of them. His little horns were covered by his dark brown hair, which was always brushed over them. His tiny brows were knotted in a fierce scowl, and his lower lip jutted out.  
  
"Stinky Isara. Don't want her," he announced. A war cry resonated through the house, followed by a high pitched baby wail. Dawn sighed.  
  
"William is up." A four year old charged down the stairs, and skidded along the floorboards to stop in front of Isara, a shiny sword clutched in her chubby fists.  
  
"Hi!" Alexis said happily. "Wanna play demon, and let me slay you?" Izzy added a mental note, never EVER to turn four year old Potentials into legitimate slayers.  
  
"Uh no," Izzy replied. Dawn caught sight of her daughter.  
  
"Lexi, what did we say? We play slayer with Aunt Buffy outside. Slayer is an outside game," she emphasised. She looked at Izzy. "Remind me to kill your mother."  
  
"I think Lexi could manage it for you," Izzy muttered with a tight smile. "Or I will. If I make it out of here."  
  
Dawn had picked up William, the baby, who was now slung across her hip.  
  
"Wills, sweets, don't cry," she crooned. Izzy was thinking that 'shut up before I turn you into a seagull' would be more effective. Wills reached out with sticky hands for Izzy.  
  
"See! He's pleased you're here!" Dawn said happily. "I've got to run, Iz. Have fun!" The door slam echoed in the hall, and Izzy felt her heart sink.  
  
"Playtime!" Ryan announced, with an evil grin.  
  
A/N: REVIEW! 


	4. Babysitting is evil

A/N: This story is getting updated way more than Academy is at present, mainly cuz I have my own cheering section, in the form of Jen. However.Jen alone is not gonna keep me writing, so please, you want me to continue, then review.  
  
"Hey," Lin greeted, letting the screen door slam behind him. Willow winced, and dusted the flour off her hands.  
  
"Heya Lin-boy," she answered. "Looking for Izzy?" The teenage boy yanked open the fridge, and peered inside, rifling through the contents. Emerging with a carton of orange juice in one hand, and a yogurt in the other, he nodded, kicking the door shut.  
  
"Yup. Also, I'm hungry. Your house was closer," he explained, with all the logic of a teenager living two doors down. Willow rolled her eyes, and took the carton of OJ from him before he took a slurp of it, and poured it into a glass.  
  
"Thanks Willow," he grinned. She sighed.  
  
"Yeah yeah. How was Lib's ballet recital?" she asked, rinsing off her hands before returning to her baking. Lin rolled his eyes, and dug into his yogurt.  
  
"Got any chips?" he said by way of answering. Willow tossed him a packet. He ripped them open.  
  
"So, you were in search of my daughter," she prompted. Lin's eyes lit up.  
  
"Oh. Yeah! I was. Where is she?" Willow shook her head, a wry smile on her face.  
  
"You are so much like your father," she muttered. "She's across the road, at Dawn's. Babysitting."  
  
Lin's eyes widened. "She's alone? With the trio?"  
  
Willow shook her head.  
  
"The way you two go on about those three, you'd think that they were uncontrollable."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Help? Please?" Izzy tried, struggling futilely with the ropes Ryan had tied pretty efficiently around her wrists. Spike's way of babysitting seemed to have rubbed off on him. But in reversed terms.  
  
The demon himself appeared, armed with one of Lexi's 'outside only' crossbows, smiling gleefully.  
  
"Ryan Summers, you are in soooo much trouble!" she hissed through the gag, her eyes wide with shock. "I'm gonna kill you when I get out of here."  
  
"Izzy?" Lin called from the hallway. Izzy tried to hop across to the hall, but her feet were tightly bound together, and she fell forward, onto her face.  
  
"Ow," she said miserably.  
  
"Heya, little guy," she heard Lin say, then two year old William's happy babble. "Lexi, isn't that a weapon?"  
  
"Yup yup," Lexi replied happily. "Ryan captured a demon, and we're gonna chop its head off."  
  
"Oh no," Lin replied, sounding horrified. "IZZY? Where are you?" His footsteps got closer and closer, and then he was there, untying the ropes. As she scrambled to her feet, she saw him try to stifle his smiles, William patting his face with starfish baby hands.  
  
"Ryan Summers, get over here now!" she shrieked. A statue on an end table flew violently off it, and smashed into a wall.  
  
"Uh, Iz?" Lin tried. "Calm down." She turned on him, her look accusatory.  
  
"I told you never, ever to leave me alone with them. I'm a witch, not a miracle worker," she moaned.  
  
"I'll get Ryan, you hang onto William," he said sympathetically, handing her the baby. William clung to her sweater, then said quite distinctly,  
  
"Wills go potty."  
  
"No," Izzy howled. She held the baby at arm's length, as she hurried up the stairs to Will's room. The walls and curtains were in soft pastel colours, a large cot filled with stuffed animals sat near the window, and a changing table opposite.  
  
She lay the child down on top of the table, and unsnapped his pants, and carefully prised off the diaper. Her face scrunched up.  
  
"Ewwww," she moaned. "Never having kids, never having kids."  
  
Talking happily in incoherent baby talk, Wills patted her head lightly as she walked down the stairs. She smiled, watching the scene below.  
  
Lin, his blond hair falling into his eyes, was tusselling with Ryan, he'd got the kid in a headlock, and was teasing him, and laughing. He looked up, and grinned at Izzy, before yelping as Lexi launched herself on top of him, mercifully without a weapon. All three collapsed in a heap, the two kids giggling helplessly as Lin struggled to his feet.  
  
"Izzy, will you make some magic happen?" Lexi begged, as Ryan stuck his tongue out at his little sister. Izzy dropped onto the couch, Wills screaming with delight at the drop, and tiredly concentrated. The Tv remote levitated off the floor, and into her hand.  
  
"Cartoons," she said firmly. "Cartoons are fun, and educational." She avoided Lin's eyes.  
  
"Educational?" he queried, raising his eyebrows. "You think a cat chasing a mouse with a sledgehammer is educational?"  
  
"Well, Lin, it's either educational cartoons, or you can play with Lexi and Ryan in the garden, while Wills and I watch cartoons," Izzy answered.  
  
"Cartoons are educational!" he replied quickly.  
  
When Dawn returned home, she found Izzy and Lin crashed out on the couch, watching cartoons with Lexi and Ryan, while Wills slept contentedly on top of the boy.  
  
"Aww," she sighed. "They were good for you."  
  
Izzy sat up indignantly. Dawn scooped up her son, and slung him across a hip.  
  
"Thanks so much, Iz," she said gratefully. "The meeting went great. C'mon guys, bed," she ordered, as Ryan and Lexi dragged themselves upwards, complaining under their breath.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
I have decided. Never, ever having kids. When Anya came back from the dead, pretty much, Xander and her had sex like you-know-whats (we've got out of practise using any derivative of 'bunnies' because of her phobia) and so Lin was born, and then Libby. Anya wants more kids, she got weird ideas from somewhere that the more kids you had, the better life was, and you'd 'win in the end'.  
  
Ah, Lin's just told me her favourite board game is the Game of Life. Bet Xander's regretting that one.  
  
Dawn kinda had kids without anyone knowing about it. She just disappeared, and then poof, returned eight years later with Ryan, Lexi, and she was pregnant. Buffy had been roaming around, being all Slayer-ish. When they discovered Lexi wasn't just uber-strong for like, two, she moved in, and she and Dawn have lived together for a while now. Occasionally, Buffy ups and goes to L.A to visit Angel, and Spike, another souled vampire. Spike visits, too, and he's kinda the reason Ryan's hell spawn. Mind you, don't blame him. He, Lin and Xander are pretty out numbered girl to guy wise, and Spike's idea of treating him like a puppy seems to work.  
  
I think having a younger sister has taught Lin how to handle them, though. It's funny seeing Lin fall over himself at school, when I know at home, he can be uber-kind and cool to Ryan and Lexi, even when they want a victim to decapitate, and they use his teddy that he's had since he was born.  
  
Journal duty done, we've got homework to do. And maybe magic practise.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Yup, a quick update. And seeing as I update quickly, I deserve reviews, right??  
  
Oh, I'm Beta-ing a story called 'Going Back', from about the fifth chapter. You want little kid fluff, check it out. It'll be on my favourites list, so get the link there.  
  
REVIEW! 


	5. Doublemeat and partying

A/N: New chapter, longer. Thank you Jen, for pointing out I stole 'educational', in the last chapter. *blushes* I didn't mean to!  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Hey Izzy!" Isara's head shot up above the counter. The supervisor waved a hand.  
  
"Ten minutes, and your shift is up. Have a nice evening," she called. Izzy nodded, and sighed, dropping the cloth onto the countertop. The Doublemeat Palace didn't give the best health benefits, insurance, and she was pretty sure if you sliced something off with one of the machines, you were on your own, but it meant money. And didn't include small children without a ball pond to drown them in.  
  
"Heya stripes," Lin laughed, as he walked into the restaurant. Libby was with him, a hand slipped into her brother's. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she came through the door.  
  
"You work here?" she asked incredulously. Izzy glared at Lin.  
  
"You brought her here?" she demanded. He shrugged.  
  
"Mom is busy. Libby had to come." Izzy sighed, and pointed to a booth.  
  
"Sit. There. Don't. Touch. Anything," she threatened. Libby blew out a breath, and tossed her hair, stalking over to the booth, and slumping down, her arms folded across her chest.  
  
"You getting off yet?" Lin asked, scuffing his feet on the ground. Izzy nodded, removing the stupid-looking hat, and combing out her hair with her fingers.  
  
"Yup. Just about."  
  
"Are we going to that party tonight?" he blurted out in a rush. Her eyes narrowed.  
  
"No," she answered bluntly. Lin looked up, surprise, and relief on his face.  
  
"Oh. So you're not gonna go and drool over Seth, then?"  
  
"I shall ignore that last comment," Izzy said indignantly, "And yes. I am going. We are not."  
  
A look of confusion crossed Lin's face. "Huh?"  
  
Izzy rolled her eyes, and unclipped her name badge from her shirt.  
  
"Whenever you come to a party with me, you are one, uber protective," she began ticking them off on her fingers, "Two, obnoxious to anyone wanting to dance with me, and three, you tell all the guys I actually like that either that I'm actually a transvestite, or that I'm your sister, and if they come within a smidgeon of nearness with me, you'll feel compelled to smash their faces in. So we are not attending. Anything. Together. Capisce?"  
  
"Hey, I have issues," Lin defended himself. Izzy shook her head.  
  
"Yup. That you do. But I want to enjoy my evening, and-"  
  
"I get it," he interrupted. "Your Mom is going off to L.A tonight, so you can stay out as late as you want."  
  
"That is also a deciding factor," Izzy agreed. "It also means I have an hour to de-fry fat myself, and get dressed in something that will make Seth notice me."  
  
Libby glanced up from the booth in the corner.  
  
"You'll get caught. Plus, Spike told us he doesn't want any of us dating 'till we're thirty," she reminded them. They turned, and in unison, told her to,  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"He's a musician!" Lin protested, following his best friend into her room. Izzy's walls were painted a deep reddish colour, maps of constellations were scrawled on the ceiling, posters of bands taped onto the walls, and her double bed had an Indian bedspread tossed across it. Candles were dotted about, on shelves, a low trunk that was stuffed with spell paraphernalia, and on the floor.  
  
As she unsnapped her shirt, and tossed it onto the floor, he automatically closed his eyes.  
  
"How clichéd can you get?" he continued to complain. Izzy rolled her eyes, and gave a tiny grin. She shrugged off her pants, and threw on her bathrobe, knotting it around her waist.  
  
"Well, one he's hot," she began, flashing him a dazzling smile. Lin opened his eyes, and gave her a pitying look. "Two, he's an amazing guitar player, and three, he's the only guy in this school who even knows who Dante is, let alone read him." Her smile changed to a happy little grin. "And he likes me."  
  
"He could be anything! Remember how Dad fell for that evil mantis lady, and only just killed her before she killed him? And the mummy girl? He could want to suck your brains out-"  
  
"That's zombies," she interrupted matter-of-factly, slinging a towel over her shoulder. Libby perched on the end of her bed, and leafed through one of Izzy's spell books.  
  
He followed her down the corridor to the bathroom, and continued to complain.  
  
"He could be a vampire-"  
  
"I wore a cross on Monday," she called over the shower.  
  
"He could be a fish hybrid," he suggested. The shower curtain zipped back, and she wrapped a towel around herself before opening the door, and padding back across the carpet to her room.  
  
"I doubt it. He's not the go swim team type," she answered confidently. He shook his head, disbelievingly.  
  
"So you're just gonna go?"  
  
She nodded. "Yup." The front door slammed.  
  
"Izzy! I'm home!" Willow yelled. She headed up the stairs, and into Izzy's room. Totally unperturbed at finding her daughter entertaining a boy in a towel, she kissed Izzy's cheek.  
  
"Hi honey.. Uber fun had by all at the party, I hope," she grinned. Izzy rolled her eyes.  
  
"I hear you're heading to L.A," she answered. "Why? I thought you were done there a while back."  
  
Willow chewed her lower lip nervously.  
  
"Well, it seems the stuff I cleared up wasn't cleared up. I need to finish it off, and I'll be back tomorrow, I promise. Have fun, don't do anything I wouldn't do, and Lin?" Willow finished, pointing at the boy. She grinned, disconcerting him. "Have fun."  
  
As the car restarted in the driveway, Izzy began rummaging through her wardrobe.  
  
"Come on," she pleaded Lin. "Help. Please. I need a stunning outfit."  
  
"I'm a guy!" he protested. Libby raised an eyebrow in an uncanny imitation of their mother.  
  
"That can be altered," she drawled, fingering her locket. Izzy scowled at her.  
  
"Don't even think about it, Liberty Emmanuella Harris."  
  
"Fine, fine!" Libby backed off, muttering something darkly.  
  
"Thanks, call you later, bye!" Izzy yelled back, as she slid in beside her friends in the car, laughing happily. Lin waved, smiling forcedly, then waited until they'd left.  
  
"This is not good," he mumbled.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * `  
  
A/N: Next chapter, the party and the aftermath. 


	6. Demons and popcorn

A/N: Updating, because last chapter was dire. Have fun with this one. I did.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"This is so embarrassing," Izzy muttered, swinging the axe miserably over her shoulder, and looking down at the shreds of her top. "First time Lin doesn't come, and he's right. Great."  
  
She unlocked the front door, setting the axe down on the top step, and hefted it up again once inside. She hung it up in the weapons cabinet, and flopped onto the couch, flicking on the lights. The phone rang, and she stretched out a hand to pick it up.  
  
"Hi. How was the party?" Lin asked immediately. She sighed, and shoved a cushion behind her head.  
  
"He was a demon. I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"Metaphorically speaking, or are we talking demon with the green blood, and icky slime?" he queried. She sighed again.  
  
"The latter. Can we please get off the subject?"  
  
There was a slow dawning of comprehension. "I was right," he exclaimed. Izzy rolled her eyes.  
  
"Yup."  
  
"No, I mean, I was right. I said he was a demon. And he was! This is amazing news," he repeated, ecstatic.  
  
"I'm glad you find the fact I had to slay my date so wonderful," she retorted.  
  
"Are you coming over?" Lin asked. She glanced at the large clock on the wall above the fireplace, and considered it.  
  
"Let me grab my PJ's."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Climbing up the tree, Izzy often wondered why the ex-Sunnydale residents who were so open minded about demons, vampires and spooks that went bump in the night, remained stubbornly convinced that placing their children's rooms next to a tree would not in the slightest allow them to sneak out and in without their comprehension.  
  
"Hey," Lin greeted. Her bag hit him full in the chest, and he doubled up, groaning. Izzy hooked a leg over the windowsill.  
  
"Stop complaining," she addressed him, rolling her eyes. He looked up, a puppy dog expression crossing his face.  
  
"But it hurts," he answered reasonably.  
  
"Yeah, so does life," she muttered. "Get used to it." His eyebrows shot up, as he stood up.  
  
"Somebody's in a bad mood," he commented. She turned to look at him, and snorted, covering her grin with her hand.  
  
"What?" he demanded. She gestured to his nightwear.  
  
"Nothing, nothing. Glad to see you believe in preserving the environment by recycling pyjamas," she answered. "Although, actually, now I come to think of it, you in Batman pyjamas might actually be hazardous enough to-"  
  
"Shut up," he said, blushing fiercely. "I had no pyjamas left."  
  
She pulled out her own pyjamas from her bag, and waited pointedly. Lin turned his back, and she began to strip off, yanking the grey top over her head.  
  
"So, do you have it?" she asked, tying the drawstring on her pyjama bottoms. He gave her an innocent look.  
  
"Have what?"  
  
"Oh come on. The ultimate men-are-all-jerks movie. Played every time I re- discover the universal truth. Started the long tradition way back in fifth grade when Devin Jacobs stood me up at the winter dance. Please tell me you have the movie," she said, folding her arms across her chest. Lin sighed.  
  
"Yes. I have it. Satisfied?" he asked, producing a video-cassette. She squealed, and threw her arms around his neck.  
  
"Popcorn?" she asked hopefully, clutching the cassette. Lin eyed her cautiously.  
  
"Sometimes I wonder whether you're still in fifth grade," he said doubtfully. She punched his arm.  
  
"I killed my boyfriend," she said, by way of argument.  
  
"Well, actually, Iz, it was one date. And it wasn't much of one," he tried to fight back. Her eyes widened.  
  
"Are you actually dissing the killing-ness of my date? It was a traumatic experience! I need popcorn to assuage my deepest feelings." Lin sighed. In these scenarios, it was easier just to give in.  
  
"I'll get the popcorn."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"You know, I'm actually not sure if I want to contribute to you misaligning my sex," he said thoughtfully, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.  
  
"Shh, watch," she ordered, poking him in the arm. She snuggled contentedly under his comforter, surreptitiously sneaking more of it away from him. He tugged it back, indignantly.  
  
"What's the deal with this movie, anyway? How is it a trashing-men must?" he asked. She considered, her head titled on one side, messy braids falling over her shoulders.  
  
"It's a good movie. And plus, come-uppance. Always a good thing. How is Practical Magic not a movie about trashing guys? They kill someone, then bury him!" she demanded.  
  
"But it has a happy ending," he protested.  
  
"So? That makes the movie good. It's still about trashing guys," she said, satisfied she'd had won the argument.  
  
"Whatever," he dismissed her. The video played on in companionable silence, until he noticed Izzy was fast asleep, and drooling on his shoulder. Smiling a little, he shifted her over, so she lay back against the pillow, and covered her with the bedspread. He lay back, and whispered,  
  
"Goodnight, Iz."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ (Lin)  
  
Friday, twenty first of April  
  
Okay, I was right. Finally. I've always stated that the demon magnet part of this wacky band of people got passed on to Izzy, ever since when we were five, she brought home a Kirosh demon from the sewer, and asked to keep it as a pet.  
  
But I don't like seeing her get all strung up over a guy, only to have to hit him with sharp objects. Lexi enjoys that, Izzy doesn't. So it's a toss up. Do I enjoy being right, or feel sorry for Izzy, (who'll milk it anyway?)  
  
I hate decisions.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Next chapter, more on Willow's escapades in L.A, and the plot bunnies multiply.  
  
REVIEW!! 


	7. The wilyness of coyotes

A/N: Whoa, this story gets updates quickly. Thanks to all the people who have reviewed, it's an extra incentive to update. However. I might be obsessed with my new story, but I'm known to abandon things. Fun things. Be warned! Feed the hungry feedback monster!  
  
Also occurs to me, there's been no disclaimer. So, here  
  
Disclaimer: I own Isara, Lincoln, Libby, Lexi, Ryan, Wills, and Seth. Okay, demon goop. If for any reason, you want one of them, give me an email. Just letting you know, depending how the obsession stands, I'll write a Christmas/Halloween tie in. All other characters and situations are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Driving. A sense of freedom is overtaking me even now," Izzy stated, unconvincingly, as they stood on the sidewalk, staring at the car. Lin waited.  
  
"So? Get in, and commence freedom-driving," he encouraged. Izzy wiggled.  
  
"Well, you know, I really want to," she said, slowly. "But I'm kind of scared. And if you even begin to make fun of me, Lincoln, I will kill you. Goddess Hecate-ing and all!"  
  
"Understood," he agreed. They waited for a few more moments standing there, then Lin sighed.  
  
"Izzy, great as my desire is to stay un-Hecated, this whole learning to drive thing doesn't really get off the ground unless you get in the car."  
  
"Oh shush," she answered dismissively. "I'm absorbing car-ry type knowledge! It's a knowledge thing! Yup, big with the knowledge learning right now. I'm learning. Don't even try to tell me I'm not," she said resolutely.  
  
Lin looked at his watch. "You want to go in, and watch cartoons?"  
  
She looked up at him.  
  
"Okay."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Hey," Willow said, hanging up her coat on a hook in the hallway. "Whatcha doing?"  
  
"Studying Newton's second theory of gravity, Mom. Alternatively, watching Roadrunner outwit Wily Coyote," Izzy called from the couch. Willow walked in, and watched the coyote lever a boulder up a cliff, only to have Roadrunner race past him.  
  
"Y'know, I've always wondered how that coyote got so wily," she mused. Izzy shrugged.  
  
"Maybe he ate fish? You always told me if I ate fish, I'd be smart," she answered reasonably. Willow ruffled her hair.  
  
"Kiddo, you were always gonna be smart. Lin, don't get chocolate on my couch," she said, changing subject as Mom-like fast as ever. Lin guilty stopped his chocolate covered donut-filled hand half way to his mouth.  
  
"Yes Willow," he mumbled. Izzy curled her legs up so she was sitting cross- legged, and looked up at her mother expectantly.  
  
"So? The problem in L.A? What was it?"  
  
Willow looked pensive.  
  
"Um. A problem. In L.A. Not very interesting," she stalled. Izzy folded her arms, and shot her mother the famous Rosenberg resolve face.  
  
"Tell me," she insisted. Willow sat down opposite her, and folded her hands, nervously.  
  
"Well, Giles has been researching into some prophesies, and we needed some help. So I went to see Angel."  
  
"Angel? As in Sir Brood-a-lot?" Izzy repeated.  
  
"It looks like we might be due some trouble on the hellmouth soon," Willow answered.  
  
"Big trouble, or trouble Buffy-kills-with-pointy-things?" Izzy asked. Willow thought a moment.  
  
"I'm not sure. Prophesies don't generally clarify degrees of badness. It's more a cryptic, trying to confuse you type of thing."  
  
"So, we do the research-y type thing, and then the problem goes away. All good," Izzy said happily. "That's what we do."  
  
"Have you had a driving lesson yet?" Willow asked, with a tiny grin. Izzy groaned, and collapsed back onto the couch.  
  
"Please. Traumatic events I attempt to put behind me."  
  
"And Seth? Should I be worried you had the house to yourself?" Willow teased.  
  
"Seth was a demon. First all grabby hands, and then he went all slimy, and icky, and purple, so, big killing. With an axe. Not so much fun," Izzy answered.  
  
"Purple?" Lin queried. Izzy shot him a no-nonsense look.  
  
"Purple. A sorta lavender mauve half breed."  
  
"Interesting," Lin said thoughtfully.  
  
"Anyway guys, we're having a big dinner tonight. All of us," Willow announced. Izzy and Lin exchanged a look.  
  
"Does this mean Anya cooking?" Izzy inquired faintly.  
  
"Or anything made by Dawn?" Lin added. "My Mom is bad, but Dawn's cooking gave us food poisoning last time."  
  
"Sh!" Willow flapped. "Dawn is cooking. Buffy is helping."  
  
"Uh, can I borrow some money, Mom?" Izzy asked. Willow fixed her with a suspicious look.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"So I can buy dinner. Or, alternatively, medical insurance. Buffy and Dawn, plus kitchen, equals lethal combination."  
  
"It will be fine. We'll have a nice dinner," Willow said decidedly.  
  
"Please let there be a crisis," Izzy whispered.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Okay, who wants dessert?" Xander yelled over the din. Immediately, Libby, Lexi Ryan, and Wills began shouting over one another. Buffy surveyed the chaos with a wry smile, and looked at her sister. Dawn was handing Will a juice box with one hand, and keeping Lexi's crossbow safely out of the way, with the other.  
  
"Ice cream! Ice cream!" Lexi shouted joyfully, and bounced delightedly in her chair. "Mommy, can I have some ice cream?"  
  
Xander produced a large ice cream 'sculpture', as he'd phrased it earlier, a lopsided clown's face, decorated with smarties.  
  
Ryan scowled. "I don't want babyish dessert. I'm big."  
  
"Demon spawn," Izzy muttered under her breath. Lin jabbed her.  
  
Willow stepped out of the house, carrying a pitcher of iced tea, and dessert spoons.  
  
"Thanks Willow," Xander said, picking one up, and spooning ice cream into Lexi's bowl. She grinned cheerfully.  
  
The doorbell rang.  
  
"Izzy, honey, would you get that?" Willow asked, striking a match to one of the mosquito candles dotted around the garden. The fallen dusk meant the little insects were, tp put a pun on it, bugging them.  
  
Izzy grabbed an apple, and raced for the door. Biting into it, she yanked the front door open.  
  
"Hey," said the vampire, uncomfortably.  
  
"Spike?" Izzy asked.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: The plot is gonna move on a pace now, but if you want more nonsensical Dawson style fluff, stick it in a review.  
  
REVIEW! 


	8. Mr Spike

A/N: To those of you with the weird impression Spike is Dawn's kids' father, check out a new story going up, explaining the back-story of Dawn, Spike, Ryan and Lexi, 'Don't tell Mom, the babysitter's dead'. Full amazing title credit goes to Jen, who thinks up these witticisms.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Spike?" Izzy repeated. The blonde vampire scratched his head, and then folded his arms uncomfortably.  
  
"Yeah, s'me, Bit. I'm havin' a bit of trouble with the-" He gestured to the doorway impatiently.  
  
"Okay. Quick question," she said, leaning against the door frame. "You're not all grr-y and soulless, and out to kill us all?"  
  
Spike shot her a withering look. "Do I look like Peaches to you?"  
  
"Point," she agreed. "Okay. I invite you in, Spike."  
  
"Thanks," he muttered, stepping over the threshold. A pathetic squeak emitted from a toy of Will's Spike had stepped on. The vampire bent and picked it up, the bright yellow fluff looking ridiculous against his black leather duster.  
  
"So, why are you here?" Izzy asked. "Big with the non-killing. That's good. But generally, you're not the white picket fence, hearts and puppy dogs type. And our street kinda- is."  
  
Before he could answer, Lexi, carrying her bowl of half melted ice cream very carefully, pattered in across the wooden floor, backed by Ryan, his hands shoved in his pants' pockets, scowling.  
  
"Izzy? Mommy said to come back and eat," she called. Spike coughed self consciously. The two kids turned, and saw him. Ryan's scowl disappeared, and a brilliant smile appeared on his face as he threw himself at the vampire. Lexi squealed, and slid in, hugging his knees as Ryan was in the way.  
  
Spike lifted Ryan into his arms, and held the boy tight in a rough hug, ruffling Lexi's hair with a choked laugh.  
  
Izzy smiled, watching the Big Bad attempt to maintain his composure, and failing miserably.  
  
"Uncle Spike, I lost a tooth, and Ryan fell off the monkey bars, and he didn't cry, and Wills can say sentences now and-" Lexi babbled, bouncing happily as she gazed at Spike with a joyful smile. Izzy swallowed when Ryan tucked his head into Spike's chest, and whispered,  
  
"Don't go away again." Spike bent his head and muttered something back. Willow, looking harried, stepped into the living room.  
  
"Where are you guy-Spike?" she asked, puzzled. He looked up, and swung Ryan gently down onto the floor.  
  
"Yeah. I need to talk to you, Red," he said curtly. She nodded, distractedly.  
  
"Give me a few minutes. We're at dessert. Come through. Dawn will be happy to see you," she added. Lexi gave up on Spike for ice cream, but Ryan stayed close, tagging onto the vampire's footsteps.  
  
"Evenin' all," Spike greeted, as he stepped outside. The table looked up.  
  
"Spike!" Dawn said, and shoved her chair back, and hugged him. He held her tenderly, and stroked a lock of brown hair.  
  
"How are you?" he asked. She nodded.  
  
"I'm good. We're good." She smiled, almost shyly. "Thanks."  
  
He grunted non commitally, and swooped up Wills, who was sitting in his booster seat, completely baffled.  
  
"Heya mate," Spike mumbled, a small grin appearing on his face. Wills smiled, and then patting Spike's cheek, burbled a string of incomprehensible babble. Spike looked grave, and nodded.  
  
"Buffy," he nodded, ducking his head. The blonde Slayer, tiny as ever in her early forties, smiled.  
  
"Hello Spike," she said, in a low voice. Xander blinked, and stared at her.  
  
"How's soul-boy and Cordy?" he asked, addressing Spike. The vampire grinned.  
  
"Good. She's been good for a while now. Got a part the other day. Spent the entire day yesterday arguing with Angel over whether the director was a demon." He laughed. Anya waved.  
  
"Hello Anya," Spike said, his lips twitching. He glanced at Lin. "Can you drive yet?"  
  
"Yup," Lin said proudly. Spike turned a questioning brow to Izzy. She groaned.  
  
"Let's just say I don't have the best experience with cars. Or driving. Or any kind of movement when in them." Izzy closed her eyes. "That didn't come out right." Every adult in the room looked at her and then nodded.  
  
Spike laughed. "If you want, the DeSoto's battered enough. I can teach you a bit. If you want. Night drivin' though."  
  
"That could be cool," she said, thoughtfully. He nodded.  
  
"Good. Talk to you later about it. Willow?"  
  
"Are you going to be staying a little while, then?" Dawn interrupted. Spike looked at her, a soft look in his blue eyes. A small tornado going by the name of 'Ryan' threw himself at Spike, and clutched onto his ankles. Lexi gave a battle cry, and launched herself onto his lap. Wills crowed loudly, banging his spoon on the table.  
  
"Pleeease don't go, Mr Spike," Libby said, batting her eyelashes at him. Spike gave a small grin.  
  
"Guess I am, then," he answered.  
  
"Yaaay!" Lexi yelled. Spike smirked.  
  
"Much as I'm one to join the Spike love-fest," Xander drawled sarcastically, "The kids need to go to bed."  
  
"No bed, no bed," Will complained, banging his fists on his tray. Dawn scooped him up, and buried a kiss on his stomach. Will shrieked with laughter, and tried to fend his mother off with small fists.  
  
"Mommy, can Mr.Spike tell me a story?" Libby pleaded. Anya met Spike's eyes.  
  
"Nothing gross. Or bloody. Or anything involving the nature of communism. I don't want you to scare my children," she said, very definitely. Spike gave a nod.  
  
"Right then. No stories involving Russia or China. Just big scary monsters."  
  
"Monsters aren't scary," Lexi informed him, from Xander's lap. First you stomp on the toe, then snap the neck, and if you're really lucky they're biode-" she met Buffy's eye, uncertain of the word.  
  
"Biodegradable," Buffy finished. "That's the girl."  
  
"You tell her this stuff?" Spike asked, incredulously. Buffy smiled.  
  
"She has to be trained."  
  
"We'd better put you guys to bed," Dawn said, standing up. Ryan, who hadn't left Spike's side, clung onto his hand obstinately.  
  
"No," he said firmly. "Not going to bed." Buffy rose at that, and lifted the six year old effortlessly, and carried him out, following Dawn. They climbed the stairs to the children's rooms.  
  
"We'd better go, as well," Xander said. "C'mon Lin. Libby sweetheart, we're gonna go home."  
  
"Mr.Spike, are you gonna tell me a story?" the little girl asked. Mr Spike looked at Willow.  
  
"Tomorrow night. I've got to talk to Red, here," he answered.  
  
"See ya," Izzy called, from the front porch. Lin waved back from about ten yards away.  
  
As Izzy climbed the stairs to change into her pyjamas, the study doors slid closed. Puzzled, she crept back down again, and listened. Mom was shouting at Spike, about it not being the right time, and then Spike's voice rose.  
  
"Izzy?" Willow suddenly called. Izzy ran for the stairs. "Go to bed," Willow ordered.  
  
"Night, Mom," Izzy called, frowning. Something was up.  
  
* ` * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
A/N: REVIEW! 


	9. Smite

A/N: This chapter is mucho advancement. If you want more of Lexi, Ryan and Spike, go read 'Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter Is Dead'.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Did you do the homework?" Lin asked hopefully. Izzy rolled her eyes.  
  
"Hi Lin. Yes, I had a good night's sleep. Glad you did. Yup, the sun is shining, and yes," she turned to face him, "I did the homework. And yeah, you can borrow it. Reading through, though. No copy-age," she said firmly. Lin nodded.  
  
"Yeah yeah. Can I have it now?"  
  
"You know, I might consider it if I-" she began, but broke off as a tall, slim, blonde girl approached Lin. His mouth dropped open involuntarily. Izzy lifted a hand, and shut it for him.  
  
"You're Lin Harris, right?" she asked, glancing back at a cluster of cheerleaders behind her.  
  
"Don't look her directly in the eyes," Izzy muttered. "She'll turn you to stone."  
  
"Did you say something?" the blonde gave her a strange look.  
  
"Nothing," Izzy said quickly, flashing her a bright smile. The girl shook her head, and turned back to Lin.  
  
"I, uh, I mean, I, um, ah," he stuttered. Izzy sighed.  
  
"Translated, that's yes, I am," she informed the girl. She smiled.  
  
"Is it true you've been like, stalking Kirsty?" she asked, with a giggle, glancing back at the group of girls, who broke into laughter. Lin's face fell as she walked away. Izzy's tightened.  
  
"Forget it," she said, touching his arm. He sighed.  
  
"I know. I just-"  
  
"Don't have to explain yourself. They're cheerleaders. Bitchiness is like, on their examination scores," she said, glaring after them. Lin gave her a sad smile.  
  
"Hey, maybe someday I'll get lucky, and one of them will put me out of my misery, and just shoot me," he said bitterly, walking away.  
  
Izzy sighed. Lin was so sweet, and dopey, the girls who had just kicked him around would be lucky to date him. He wasn't exactly ugly, bright blue eyes, blond hair hanging in his eyes, and a cute little smile whenever he was amused. Ye gods! She thought Lin was cute?  
  
"Eek," she whispered. The bell rang, and she looked up at it, in vague panic. "Oh crap!"  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Hi honey, how was your day?" Willow called from the kitchen. Izzy dropped her bag in the hallway, and stepped through into the kitchen, picking up an orange from a pottery bowl on the side.  
  
"It was school. School-like. School-ish. A place of learning," Izzy said quickly. Her mother glanced at her strangely.  
  
"Izzy, are you feeling okay?"  
  
'No, I think I might be crushing on my best friend.'  
  
"Sure. Why wouldn't I?" Izzy laughed, nervously. Willow shook her head.  
  
"Hey Mom?" Izzy asked, peeling her orange. Willow glanced up again. "What were you and Spike talking about last night?"  
  
Willow put down her mug of coffee.  
  
"Were you listening?" she asked. Izzy shook her head.  
  
"No! I just heard shouting, and Spike sounded, well, mad."  
  
Willow sighed, and sat down at the kitchen table.  
  
"Sweetheart, there's something we need to. talk about. The reason I go to L.A a lot," she paused. Izzy got up, and came to sit opposite her.  
  
Willow traced the rim of her mug with her finger delicately, and seemed to be thinking things through.  
  
"The reason I go to L.A, is because Angel is there. And Angel is able to get hold of some information I need." She looked at Izzy, a pleading look in her eyes. "There's a prophecy, you see. And spells. It's something about you."  
  
"What?" Izzy asked. Willow took a breath, and plunged on.  
  
"When you came to me, when I adopted you, we found out that you were what's known as the 'Gatekeeper'. Cleveland, you know, is on the verge of a Hellmouth-"  
  
"Heckmouth," Izzy automatically corrected, the way Willow had done when she'd gone through a stage at ten of constantly repeating 'hellmouth'. Willow smiled softly, at the tiny bit of normalcy.  
  
"Heckmouth. Every place like this has a guardian, a single person who during their lifetime, seeks to keep the demons and monsters from taking over. They, they spend their lives guarding the hellmouth, making it safe for others," she paused, taking a breath. "The Gatekeeper of Sunnydale was a man called Nathaniel Peterson, in the seventeenth century. He spent many years fighting them until the end of his life."  
  
"Wasn't Buffy a Guardian?" Izzy asked, curious.  
  
"No," Willow shook her head, red hair flying. "Buffy was a Slayer. She was prophesised, but there is only one Gatekeeper. And there are many prophesies written about each one. Izzy, we found out, when you were little, that you're the Gatekeeper of Cleveland."  
  
Izzy sat back, stunned. Tears began to spill down Willow's cheeks.  
  
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I should have told you awhile ago. I didn't, I wanted you to grow up without knowing, I wasn't sure, I didn't- I went to see Angel, and he told me there were more prophesies, ones he hasn't seen, but one that he has details a battle coming. A battle which the Gatekeeper is involved in. Spike came to tell me to tell you. It wasn't right to keep it from you. It's your future."  
  
"So what? I'm in Cleveland until the end of my life? I'll die fighting some stupid battle, like a Slayer, but minus the firepower?" Izzy choked out. Willow reached out to hug her, but she jerked away.  
  
"I'm sorry Mom. I just haven't got to grips with my destiny yet," she spat. "You told me for years that if I'd shown any signs of wanting to be normal, you'd have let me grow up like that. What, did I choose to be this? Did you ask a three year old kid if she wanted to be special? I don't want this gig, Mom. I don't want to die," she said, her voice breaking.  
  
Willow stood up, but Izzy shoved back her chair, and fled to her room, crying.  
  
The door banged, and Lin's own bag dropped onto the floor.  
  
"Hey Willow, you seen Izz?" he asked. "We were gonna hang out at the coffee place."  
  
Willow shook her head, smiling weakly. "Sorry, Lin. I don't think Izzy is going out."  
  
"What's the matter?" he asked. Willow sighed heavily.  
  
"It's complicated."  
  
* ~  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Izzy?" Her mother's head poked around her door. Izzy flipped off her music, and waited silently. "Lin's on the 'phone," Willow said, holding out the handset.  
  
"Hello?" Izzy said.  
  
"Hey Izz, how you doing?" Lin's worried voice drifted down the line. She could picture him, seated at the computer table in his room, leaning his elbows on the desk, the phone to his ear.  
  
"I'm fine," she sighed. "Just you know, big with the depressed."  
  
"I could come over?" he suggested. She thought about it, pictured ice cream, and TV, and Lin, and-  
  
"No," she said. "I'll be okay. Really."  
  
"I know what all this is about," he said, a laughing note in his voice. "You're not upset about the Gatekeeper thing. You're still miserable over Seth."  
  
"Nope, I'm not. Really," she insisted. He laughed.  
  
"Really?" he repeated, teasingly.  
  
"You know, you're really annoying," she said, wonderingly. "Why haven't I noticed this before?"  
  
"I am the Almighty Lin. Are you defying me?" he said, with mock outrage.  
  
"Yup," she agreed. "Defiance. Sounds about right."  
  
"How dare you! I will smite you. Being all smite-y right now," he promised.  
  
Smutty? Lin was telling her she was smutty- Lin in a tunic, like one of those Greek god thingumies, and smiling, with his blond hair all shiny, and the cute little look in his blue eyes he had when he was teasing, and smut and Lin and oh, bad thoughts! Naughty thoughts!  
  
"Did you just say I was smutty?" she demanded.  
  
"Uh, no. Smite, Izz. Smite-y."  
  
"That's not a word, Lin."  
  
"Uh, someone assumed it was smut? Is Izzy having bad thoughts?" he asked, laughing. She felt herself blush.  
  
"No!"  
  
"I think you may be over Seth, but you never move on without a new victim. C'mon, who is it, Izz?" he demanded, playfully.  
  
"I refuse to answer that," she said, loftily. He laughed.  
  
"Izzy's got a crush, Izzy's got a crush," he sing-songed. "Can't see the attraction, myself. Izzy-germs. You're like my sister. My older, annoying sister."  
  
She paused, still smiling at the joke, it painful now. So. she knew how Lin felt. Her own thoughts regarding Lin may be smut-laden, and bigger-than- friendship-y, but his were very much the same.  
  
"Izz? What's up?" Lin's voice, worried now, drifted down the 'phone line. She shook her head, forgetting he couldn't see her.  
  
"It's nothing. I just.. got to go. Sorry. Bye," she said, hanging up. She stared at the phone, trying not to cry.  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
*  
  
~ * ~ * ~  
  
Lin  
  
So Izzy has a new crush. That's normal, and its good she's not all mopey with the news and everything. So why do I feel so bad, pretending I don't feel about her that way?  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Izzy  
  
I have a crush on my best friend, and he doesn't think of me the same way. Plus, my life is pretty much screwed, with this Gatekeeper thing. I'm gonna die, and pretty soon, it appears. Great.  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~  
  
A/N: Next chapter, Spike's driving lesson!  
  
REVIEW!!!! 


	10. Running

A/N: Yup, for Izzy updates, it's been awhile. Schoolwork plus sleep means I've not been able to, but reviews always make me work harder.. Hint hint.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"You have the permit?" Spike asked, holding out a hand. The small piece of card was placed in it carefully.  
  
"Check. Do you?" she challenged, lifting an eyebrow. Spike frowned.  
  
"How the bloody hell am I supposed to have a driver's licence? I'm 130 years old! Cars didn't sodding exist when I did."  
  
"Temper, check," Izzy muttered, with a tiny grin. Driving lessons with Spike meant at least the world wasn't ending yet, even if- it might.. While puzzling over this brand new, shiny conundrum, the vampire steered her towards the doorway.  
  
"See you later, Willow," Spike called. He glanced at Izzy, who folded her arms, and pointedly ignored her mother.  
  
"Right, first things first. Stick the key in the ignition," Spike said, fastening his seatbelt. Izzy shot him a withering look.  
  
"Is this how the entire lesson is gonna be? Or shall I just skip irritating 'father-figure' Spike, and get back to non-driving, ultra boring Spike?"  
  
"Just drive the car," he ordered. She fumbled with the gear stick, and finally, wit a triumphant smile, managed to put it into the right gear, and ease on the gas.  
  
"Right," Spike began again, with a determined note in his voice. "Ease on the clutch, and on the gas, and shift the gears."  
  
She cast a look at him, and did so easily.  
  
"Oh come on! A snail drives faster than this! Druscilla couldn't drive, and she moved faster than this," Spike complained, inspecting his black nails. Izzy shifted the gears upwards, and floored the gas. The startled vampire fell backwards, and slid down in his seat, gripping onto it, as the teenager laughed.  
  
"Now you've discovered how to drive," Spike grumbled. He slanted a look at her, considering.  
  
"You've gone silent. For a backseat vampire, that's disturbing," Izzy commented, from the wheel, glancing at him. "What's on your mind?"  
  
"Gatekeeper stuff," he answered. "Just thinkin' about it all."  
  
She shrugged stiffly. "My mom adopted me, then found out I'm a mystical thingamagig. Not much to think about."  
  
Spike raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Red didn't find out about it, she knew about it," he said, sounding bewildered. "She was searching for the Gatekeeper. Came to L.A for the prophesies. Then found you. Brought you home, let you grow up, didn't tell you, so Angel decided enough was enough, and I came to pass on the news. Thought you'd taken it pretty well, considering it all," he answered, scratching his head.  
  
Her face went blank.  
  
"My. Willow knew I was the Gatekeeper when she adopted me?" she repeated, carefully.  
  
"Yeah. Big mystical hide and seek, if you ask me, played with a baby," Spike answered nonchalantly. "Course she did. She came to the hotel, to show you off. All wrapped up, little bundle of magical destiny, she called you. Never seen Red so happy," he recalled, with a small smile.  
  
Izzy turned back into their road, and halted the car abruptly. Spike looked at her, askance.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" he demanded. She shut off the ignition.  
  
"Nothing. I just.I don't feel like driving anymore," she said, and got out of the car. She walked quickly up the steps into the house, and closed the door. Spike opened his own side, and followed her indoors.  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Izzy opened her backpack, and looked around her room for things she needed. Her PJs. She stuffed them in. Hairbrush, toothbrush, her eyes fell on the shelf beside her bed. Her journal lay beside a photo of her and her mom stood next to each other, grinning like crazy. She tossed in the journal, ignoring the photo.  
  
Her mother hadn't wanted her. It had all been one big duty, bringing up the Gatekeeper in the place that would be home for the rest of her life. Well, life in Cleveland sucked, she thought, biting her lip. She wasn't staying on a hellmouth, with a family that didn't want her, and didn't tell her what she was. L.A. Spike had mentioned L.A, Mom had gone to Angel to get prophesies.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"You guys came back early," Willow commented, flipping off the TV. "Was it okay?"  
  
"Put it this way. Being burnt, into ashes, saving Sunnydale, was better," the disgruntled vampire answered. Willow sighed.  
  
"I know I should've told her earlier. I just love her so much, and if I told her, she wouldn't be my baby anymore, she'd be 'the Gatekeeper'," she said, miserably.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Izzy looked down at the keys still clenched in her palm, and silently hefted her bag onto her shoulders, swinging her legs over the windowsill, and onto the rose trellis Willow had grown up the side of the house. Once on it, she swung over to the tree she and Lin had used as a base since they were little.  
  
"Izz?" She looked down, and saw Lin sitting below the tree.  
  
"What are you doing down there?" she asked, stupidly.  
  
"Uh, Izz, you're in a tree. What's up?" he answered.  
  
"I'm leaving," she said flatly, dropping down, and dusting off her hands. He stood up, puzzlement crossing his face.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm going. Saying goodbye, whatever. I'm not staying here anymore."  
  
"Well, where are you going?" he asked, stalling. She shrugged, adjusting her bag.  
  
"L.A," she told him reluctantly. "Look, I'm not- This is a me-alone thing. I just wanna know who me is. I'm really not sure, so many people keep lying to me, things here are just so screwed up," she raked her hands through her hair distractedly, looking lost. "I just want to sort it all out."  
  
"Izz, I appreciate the whole, you-alone thing, but you-alone doesn't actually have a licence yet. Just a permit. So howbout if I come along, do the whole licenced driver thing, and let you do what you want?" he offered gently.  
  
She sighed. "God, I'd forgotten. Why is everything so messed up?" A tear began to make its way down her cheek. Lin fought desperately not to kiss her, she looked so vulnerable, and lonely. He compromised by hugging her, pulling her tightly into a hug.  
  
"Where's the car?" he asked, pulling away. She held up the keys.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"What was that?" Willow asked, her eyes widening. Spike strode to the window, and yanked back the curtain. His own blue eyes shot open, and he ran to the door, hauled it open, and ran through. Willow followed.  
  
"She took my car! Bloody bint stole my car! My car!" he yelled, standing on the sidewalk, staring in disbelief after the DeSoto. Willow glared at him, and smacked him hard on the arm.  
  
"What did you say to her?" she demanded. He turned to her.  
  
"I didn't say soddin' anything! She stole my car, woman! Get it bloody back," he ordered.  
  
"You must have said something, or she wouldn't have gone. Goddess knows, she wasn't talking to me," Willow answered.  
  
"Where would she go?" Spike asked, as they stood there. Willow shrugged painfully.  
  
"I don't know," she replied, staring after the car.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~  
  
Lin glanced across at Izzy, sleeping in the passenger seat, curled up against the window, her hoodie spread across her like a blanket. He looked back at the road, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. He didn't know what had set off the running away, but for Lincoln Harris, it broke down into very simple lines. Izzy unhappy. Izzy runs away. Lin unhappy for Izzy. Either Lin hit the object that made Izzy unhappy very hard, or Lin run away with Izzy.  
  
She'd be okay, he promised himself.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Next chapter, Angel Investigations, and more.  
  
REVIEW! 


	11. Viva Los Angeles

A/N: This has been a difficult chapter to write, and it's getting harder as plot rears its head. So please, keep up the reviews, and stuff, it keeps me going.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
"Mommy, why is the sky?"  
  
Willow turned around, and faced the six year old, a smile hovering on her face. She dried her hands on a tea towel, as she considered her answer.  
  
"Why is the sky what, Izzy?" she asked. Izzy's pigtails swished back and forth as she shook her head vigorously.  
  
"Nope, Mommy. Why is the sky?" she repeated. "Not stuff about it. Why is the sky?"  
  
Willow laughed, and shook her head. "I don't know, sweetie. Some stuff, we're just not supposed to know. We'll find out one day, I guess."  
  
Her little girl looked back at her, her big green eyes full of impatience, and curiosity.  
  
"But Mommy, I want to know now!" she protested. "I want to know everything."  
  
Willow looked across at the paintings stuck to the fridge with brightly coloured magnets, at the clay shapes Izzy had made, and the tiny votive candle she had dedicated to the goddess, her little pink tongue poking out of her mouth in concentration as she did it. 'I don't want you to know everything,' she thought, wistfully. 'I want you to be mine, forever.'  
  
Izzy's giggling distracted her, and she turned back to see the little girl's fork hovering above her plate, jousting with her knife in a mock sword fight.  
  
"Isara Rosenberg!" she warned, but her tone was light, and warm. Izzy looked up at her, and smiled, her milk teeth showing in a broad grin, and Willow felt her heart melt.  
  
'One day she won't be my little girl anymore. But now she is.'  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Where would they go? Normally, I'm all big with the knowledge, but since Izzy kinda put the onus on reading her mind and all, I have no clue, and I don't like being clueless," Willow said, panicking slightly, as she twisted her hands together, pacing.  
  
"Calm down, Willow. It's okay. I'm sure they're okay. She has Lin with her," Xander put in, sympathetically. "Sure, I'm going to string him up by his little teenage toes when he gets back, but that's just a plus."  
  
"But I like Lincoln's toes," Anya protested. "They're part of Lin. My Lin. My baby."  
  
"I know, honey. I was being metaphorical," Xander answered soothingly, putting an arm around her.  
  
"Metaphors just cause confusion, and lead to annoyance," Anya sniffed.  
  
"Can we get back to the point?" Spike chipped in. "They stole my sodding car. I want it back."  
  
"Would you shut up already?" Xander snapped. "Willow, you don't have a stake around, or anything, do you?"  
  
"Ooh, big bad Xander," Spike jibed, wiggling his eyebrows. Willow shot him a withering look.  
  
"Grow up. My sixteen year old, unlicensed daughter took off to Goddess knows where, with her best friend."  
  
"Where would they have gone?" Dawn asked, curled up on the couch, her feet tucked up under her. They thought about it.  
  
"What did you say to her to piss her off?" Willow asked bluntly. They all glared at Spike.  
  
"We were talkin' about that Gatekeeper thing," he shrugged.  
  
"What exactly, did you say to her? I mean, she wasn't happy, and she wasn't talking to me," Willow admitted, "But she wasn't all running-away."  
  
"Dunno. Why is it all blame Spike now?" he demanded.  
  
"Because it's your fault," Anya shrugged.  
  
"It's always your fault," Xander stated, levelling a scowl at the vampire. Spike sneered at him.  
  
"You know, I never liked you," he said conversationally.  
  
"Back to the point, Billy Idol," Willow said firmly. He stared at her.  
  
"Never knew you had it in you, Red," he said, admiringly.  
  
"Can it. I want to know where my child is. And presumably, something you said told her where to go. So I want to know. Spell it out for me," she ordered, stepping forward in such a way that it made the startled vampire back away.  
  
"She got all het up about you knowin' she was the Gatekeeper," he remembered, scratching his head. "Like it was news. An' I told her about you showing her to Angel."  
  
"L.A. She'll have gone to Angel, in L.A. Why would she go though? I mean, she knew- Oh God," Willow sank down onto the couch, her knees giving way suddenly. "She thinks I don't love her."  
  
"What? That's nuts," Xander exclaimed. Willow lifted her eyes to his.  
  
"She was upset that I hadn't told her. And she'll think, Spike, please tell me you didn't tell me about the search," she begged. Slowly, and regretfully, while considering the punishment the redhead was going to inflict on him, the vampire nodded.  
  
"She'll think that I didn't want her," Willow said. "That I wasn't looking for her."  
  
"She thinks you chose her because of what she is," Dawn spoke up, softly. Willow met her eyes, and saw Dawn's own empathy with the teenager.  
  
"See? All Spike's fault," Xander put in.  
  
"I'll call Angel. Tell him they'll be there," Willow said, standing, and crossing to the phone.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ` * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Spike drinks too much," she added, in disgust, sifting through the bottles to pick out her backpack.  
  
"You ready to go, string bean?" Lin asked, using the nick name she'd gotten when she was around eleven, and growing so fast, her mom joked about being stuck in a gro-bag when she was little. It hurt now.  
  
"Yup," she said, trying to smile. "Ready. Let's go."  
  
They stepped through the glass doors, and into the lobby.  
  
"Hello?" Lin called, dropping onto the couch, looking exhausted. "Nice couch. Friendly couch."  
  
"Izzy?" She turned around, startled.  
  
"You crept up on me," she accused. The vampire gave a sheepish grin.  
  
"Sorry. You're so.." he considered it a moment. "Tall."  
  
"I've grown," she answered, her arms folded. "You don't exactly sound surprised to see me. Us." Angel looked up, and nodded at Lin. He waved.  
  
"Willow called," he said, evasively.  
  
"Great," she sighed heavily. "My mom screws with my life. Yet again. Hey, at least she didn't lie again. She does that, you know. A lot."  
  
"You two want to crash here?" Angel directed the question at Lin. He looked at Izzy.  
  
"No strings?" she questioned. Angel nodded.  
  
"Sure. Whatever," she answered, yawning. He smiled.  
  
"Hungry?"  
  
"Starving," Lin said eagerly. Izzy nodded.  
  
"Come through," Angel showed them through the lobby, and behind, into a living area.  
  
A couple of couches sat around a TV, with a coffee table between them. A blood encrusted axe lay on the highly polished table, and two people were crouched over it, discussing the red specks. The couches were covered in dark throws, and a kitchen led off the room, delicious smells making their way out.  
  
"Fred, Gunn," Angel coughed. The two people stood up, one slim, with her brown hair tied back in a messy ponytail, glasses on a chain around her neck, and the other taller, black, dressed in a nice looking suit.  
  
"Hi," Gunn said cheerfully. "Guess you two are Izzy and Lin?" They nodded.  
  
"Kitchen," Fred pointed vaguely, and bent over the axe once more. Lin grinned, and shook his head. They'd met Fred on their last visit. The physicist had grown possibly more eccentric as time went by, and they both knew that once involved in something, it took more than someone new saying hi to drag her back to the real world.  
  
"There's food. There are beds upstairs, you can crash afterwards," Angel offered, steering them toward the kitchen. They sat down at a long, scrubbed table, watching him serve up omlette from a pan on the stove. Carefully, he set down plates in front of them, and hungrily, they dug in.  
  
Izzy waited until the vampire had sat down, before she started.  
  
"Angel, Spike said my mom came here when I was a baby. You knew about the Gatekeeper thing, there were prophesies," she strode in. He looked at her, startled.  
  
"Yes," he said slowly. "There were."  
  
"Where are they?" she pressed.  
  
"When we turned over Wolfram and Hart, we left them with the law firm. We'd seen all the prophesies had to offer. We can withdraw them, as we maintained a part share in the company-"  
  
"Can you get them now? Tomorrow?" Izzy asked impatiently. Angel's eyes softened.  
  
"I understand," he began.  
  
"No. You really don't. Being lied to by everyone isn't exactly a normal experience. It's not one I want to repeat. So these prophesies. When can you get them?"  
  
"A week, I think," Angel considered. "You have to do paperwork, you realise there are thousands, millions that we collected while in Wolfram and Hart. There are files upon files of them. Someone has to find the right ones and- "  
  
"A week?" Izzy repeated. Angel nodded.  
  
"Fine," she sighed. She fiddled with her fork a little. "Angel? I'm really not hungry right now. Is there a possibility of sleep?"  
  
"Sure," he nodded. She yawned widely.  
  
"Lin? Are you sleepy?" she addressed him. He gave her a confused look.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose," he answered.  
  
"Lead the way to sleep," Izzy commanded.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
She pulled the shirt over her head, and tugged it down, then braided her hair tightly behind her. She wasn't going to wait a week to find out who she was. She wanted to know. Now.  
  
Hooking one leg over the window, she clambered down the drainpipe, and dropped soundlessly to the street below. Wolfram and Hart, here she came.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Next chapter, Wolfram and Hart.  
  
REVIEW!!!! 


	12. W and H

A/N: Muchos thanks to Jen. This chapter hasn't been written for a while, partly because of essays, but also cuz I had serious blockage. She's suggested the main structure of the chapter, and also beta-ed it, the only beta-ed chapter in the fic. See how hard I work!  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Izzy paused, and looked around. The doorway was right there.  
  
"Walking beginning," she muttered. "Any minute now, gonna go in there."  
  
The guard she could see through the glass grunted, and scratched his belly, hiking his shirt higher as he settled back down, and carried on snoring.  
  
"Yup. Any minute. Walking. Yup. Gonna happen."  
  
She leaned against the polished wood of the Wolfram and Hart sign, and took a breath. Behind the glass doors, and guards, and state of the art technology that her mom would be able to overcome, but not her, lay information about herself. Something that would explain who she was. What she was. What would kill her? She swallowed.  
  
It was the perfect place to hide out, until she made a run for it. Some kind of really snobby bush-hybrid stood in a clumpy circle, with the sign concealing it from the sidewalk.  
  
She took another breath, clocked the sleeping guard, and ran, for the building. One sneaker stepped onto the thick grey carpet on the inside of the building, and she let out her breath in a long sigh, and-  
  
A siren shrieked loudly, Izzy's eyes widened, and she ran for the bushes again. The guard sat up, snorting, and looked around, as another guard rushed forward. She sat back, breathing heavily, and looked back at the door.  
  
"Oh crap."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Mooooommmy!"  
  
Dawn kicked off the covers, and hastily ran to her daughter's room. Lexi sat up in bed, clutching her ratty bear, tears streaming down her cheeks. Dawn sighed.  
  
"Did you have a nightmare, sweetie?"  
  
Lexi nodded, her big blue eyes full of tears.  
  
"It was big, and black, and it wanted something. It was mean, Mommy," she whispered, as Dawn sat down on the bed beside her, and hugged the little girl tightly.  
  
"Honey, it was just a dream. It's okay," she said soothingly, rubbing Lexi's back. She caught sight of the pillow over Lexi's shoulder, and sighed.  
  
"Honey, was there a demon in the dream?" she asked. Lexi looked behind her. The pillow was slit from end to end, feathers flying out.  
  
"Uh huh," Lexi nodded, pitifully.  
  
Dawn kissed the top of her head.  
  
"Honey, it was just a dream. Try to get back to sleep, okay?" Lexi nodded.  
  
Dawn picked the pillow up, and tossed it into the corridor. She opened Lexi's closet, and pulled another pillow down. She fluffed it up, and put it behind the little girl's head.  
  
"Night night, sweetie," she whispered, tucking the covers up around Lexi's shoulders. She dropped a kiss on the girl's cheek.  
  
"Kiss bear goodnight too," the drowsy child, ordered. She lifted it up in her arms. Dawn grinned, kissed the smelly toy, and then left.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Buffy shifted, waking from her dream. She tried to sit up slightly, but Spike's arm, cold and heavy, lay across her waist. He grunted in protest as she moved. A tiny smile appeared on her lips, and the sleepy Slayer settled back down letting Spike pull her against him tighter.  
  
He raised himself from sleep long enough to kiss her forehead, and then fell back against the pillows, contenting himself with wrapping his arms around her. Buffy fell back to sleep with a happy smile that hadn't been on her face since Spike's last visit to Cleveland.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Izzy tucked her chin on her knees, watching suit-clad lawyer-types walk past. Obviously, an evil law firm came alive at night. Or, undead, at night. It was all pretty boring, black suits, skirts that fell to the knee, leather briefcases, and standard-issue tazer.  
  
She yawned, and waited for the stream of lawyers to slow down, before she made her next move.  
  
'Which is what, exactly?' her snide inner voice spoke up. 'You're outside a law firm, already set off the alarms once, and there's a damn sight more people in there than there was before. How do you think you're gonna get in there now?'  
  
"Shut up," she muttered, glancing over at the stream of lawyers again. And stopped dead.  
  
A guy was walking up the path. No suit for him, hell no. Tight jeans that hugged his butt,  
  
'Really cute butt,' her inner voice added, with admiration  
  
A black shirt that showed his broad shoulders, and dark hair, curling a little bit around his shirt collar. He didn't walk like the lawyers, Izzy decided. This guy knew just how darn hot he looked. He swaggered.  
  
She still stared though, a weird little feeling rising in her stomach. The guy whipped around suddenly, and looked straight at the bushes she was hiding behind. Izzy ducked down, her heart pounding. His gaze narrowed, and he shook his head, carrying on up to the building, and walking in.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ` * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
There was a knock at the door. Lin sighed, and dropped the Play station control. Angel's brief obsession with video games, following an article in the paper that said kids playing video games learnt the rudiments of martial arts, had gone as quick as it had come. However, it did mean the broody vampire had a whole host of games with the goriest blood, greatest amount of severed body parts, and big time villains to pound on. Which, Lin reasoned, was the perfect way to pass the time, while you worked up the courage to talk to your best friend, who you'd suddenly started liking.  
  
"Hey Izz," he called. "Are you talking, or are we doing the silent movie Greta Garbo type thing?"  
  
"It's me. Angel," the vampire stated. He walked in.  
  
"Hi," Lin said awkwardly.  
  
"I was looking for Izzy, but she's not here," Angel added, unnecessarily.  
  
"She does that," Lin nodded. "You look for her, and then, no findage. It's an Izzy-thing."  
  
"Any idea where she'd be?" Angel asked hopefully.  
  
"There're a lot of answers to that. Depends which year you're talking about," Lin said, with a grin.  
  
Angel looked confused.  
  
"See, Izzy has this thing of having a place where she goes if she's pissed, or upset, or well, Izzy," Lin explained. "When she was five, it was our tree-house. Technically, it was my tree house, but when a five-year-old mini-witch claims possession of your hideout, you don't argue. "  
  
Angel nodded. "Sounds like a sane plan," he offered. "Willow was always a big mojo-type. Sounds like Izzy's like her. From what I've heard.'  
  
"Nope," Lin shook his head. "Willow has a load of power. Izzy's lower down the scale. When she and her mom do stuff together, Willow gets mega powerful, and Izzy kinda- it's like, she lends her power. Mom says the year Willow went all evil and stuff, she pulled power from other people and used it in spells. But it's not like that when Izzy does it. It's like, gentler."  
  
He looked at Angel for confirmation. The vampire looked thoughtful.  
  
"Makes sense," he shrugged. "But where would she be?"  
  
"Last year, it was the roof," Lin answered. "If she's not there, I don't know. There hasn't been an Izzy freak-out for a while, and the only thing like it has been coming here. "  
  
"She wouldn't-" Angel broke off, scratching his head. "She wouldn't, go try and find those prophecies, would she?"  
  
"No, of course not. It's an insane thing to do. Demons, security systems, binding contracts minus loop-holes," Lin shook his head. "She's not stupid."  
  
They exchanged a look.  
  
"I'd say she's gone," Angel stated, at the same time as Lin agreed, "Yup, she's at Wolfram and Hart."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
"Mother of all that is holy!" Izzy yelled, not caring if someone heard her. "Why can't I get inside the sodding building?"  
  
A few drops of rain splashed onto her head. She held up a palm, and stared in disbelief at the water on it.  
  
"No. No," she repeated, in her normal voice. "NO!" she yelled. "I don't believe it. It's raining, I can't get into the darn building, and I'm sick, and bloody tired off not knowing who the hell I am!" she finished, calming down, as the rain carried on splashing off the sign.  
  
"Are you finished?" he asked, an amused note in his voice. She looked up startled, raindrops caught on her eyelashes as she stared at The Guy, the Hot Guy, as he watched her, leant against a tree, his hair soaked by the rain that was still falling, his dark eyes filled with a knowing expression.  
  
"Can I help you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 


	13. Mmm, cookies And cheeescake And general ...

A/N: A few things. One, thanks to Jen for all the help. No beta of this chapter, but she did help with Nate in the one before. Two thanks, to her for not helping so much with this chapter. Much appreciated.  
  
Three, thanks to reviewers. I live for reviewers. I tend to have a crisis about my writing about once a month. It was time for one.  
  
Plus, if this is a bit OOC, (yeah, it's possible with your own characters) it's cuz I had a crisis. See above.  
  
That's it. Story ho. Ho-ness of story. Okay. maybe not the right word usage.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Can I help?' he asked, eyes raking her over, not attempting to hide his clear appraisal of her.  
  
"No," she said, momentarily confused. "No, go away. Stop-" she broke off, a little freaked out. "How did you know I was behind the bushes?"  
  
He gave a secret little half smile and shrugged.  
  
"I didn't," he replied.  
  
Great. Cryptic hot guy. This was just icing on the cake. She sighed.  
  
"Apart from standing around like..um, um. an, uh.." Nasty inner voice made a come back. 'Model for Calvin Klein? The one on the billboards? In his underwear?' Mentally picturing the guy in front of her in his underwear, and trying not to turn bright red, and handle a conversation, Izzy's conversational skills went up the ying-yang.  
  
"And attempting to look all. y'know, um. big with the moody, do you think it's possible you have other capabilities, like, um, parachuting, or maybe cheesecake baking, or stuffing teddy bears or, uh, maybe you could just turn around, and walk away again?"  
  
He blinked.  
  
"Cheesecake baking?"  
  
"Shut up," she said impatiently. "Go away. Very busy.. um.. thinking. about.. stuff. Yeah. Stuff. Stuff-y type stuff. And plans. Evil plans. Grr. Arrgh." She made fangs with her fingers, and held them up to her mouth. "See? Evil. Go away now."  
  
He frowned.  
  
"Don't give me that. All I want to do is be left alone to break into the big evil law firm. So shoo," she made appropriate motions with her hands.  
  
"Right," he nodded. "So you want in to Wolfram and Hart."  
  
"No. I mean, yes. I mean, I. go away!' she pleaded.  
  
She knew she was being irrational. He was perturbing, what with the knowing- she-was-there-ness, and the non-irrationality. How was it whenever she met a guy, it always seemed to go to hell in a hand-basket? Not that this was a guy, guy. Nope. He'd be turning and walking away soon. Yep. No help necessary.  
  
"I didn't ask for a diatribe," he said, walking forward. "You're wet, and standing around outside. Plus," he shrugged. "You're cute."  
  
She glared at him, momentarily forgetting that his name, as far as she knew it in her head, was Hot Guy.  
  
"So," he said, looking around. "Need help?"  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Turn left," Spike ordered from underneath his blanket. Xander glared at him with all the loathing of the past twenty odd years.  
  
"No backseat driving from the vampire," he snapped. "Evil undeads stay quiet in my car."  
  
Spike rolled his eyes. "Which of us spends more time driving from L.A to Cleveland and back again?"  
  
"You can't even see! You have a blanket over your head," Xander protested. Spike smirked.  
  
"I can still drive better than you."  
  
"Why do I have to drive you, anyway? Is it torture Xander day?" Xander asked, frustrated.  
  
Spike grinned. "Put it this way. Would you like it to be?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"I don't need help. I can get inside," she answered, folding her arms. He raised one eyebrow.  
  
"Past the security systems, and guards?" he asked.  
  
She sighed. "How are you going to do it?"  
  
He just smiled.  
  
She watched as he strode purposefully towards the entrance, and she snuck closer to the building, hiding in the shadow of a decorative yew hedge. The glass doors slid open, and the demon stood up, to greet the Hot Guy,  
  
"Pass," he ordered in a deep, menacing voice.  
  
"Rick, it's me," the Hot Guy said, as the demon took his proffered pass.  
  
"Heya Nate. How're you?" the big yellow demon asked, in a much lighter tenor tone.  
  
"I'm good. What was with that big alarm blaring?" Nate asked nonchalantly, as he was handed back his pass. Rick shrugged.  
  
"There've been a lot recently," he answered. "System screw ups I guess."  
  
Nate glanced at the stylish clock on the wall above the reception desk.  
  
"Bout time for changeover, isn't it, big guy?" he asked. Rick nodded.  
  
"Newbie," he grunted. "Always late. Probably eating my bone marrow in the locker room."  
  
Izzy grimaced.  
  
"Yeah. Why don't you just go? Slow night," Nate suggested, running a hand through his dark hair.  
  
"Yeah, I know," the demon replied slowly. "But if I take off, there's no one here."  
  
"C'mon, Rick, it's me," Nate flashed a cocky grin. "Who's gonna make a fuss? And with all the state of the art stuff, you'd have to be in here to get in here."  
  
"I guess. If you'll cover my ass, kid, I'll take you up on it. Thanks," Rick ambled off.  
  
"Say hi to Annie and the kids for me," Nate called after him. As the yellow demon left, Nate sat down in his vacated chair, and spread out his fingers over the computer keyboard.  
  
"So it's Nate," Izzy remarked, standing in the doorway. He looked up briefly, and flashed her a grin that made her feel all gooey inside. She instantly told her inner-goo to stop goo-ing, and behave itself.  
  
"Depends who's asking," he answered.  
  
"What's with the hacker stuff?" she asked. He began typing again.  
  
"No one gets in with the systems up. So they're gonna go down," he said, hitting the enter key.  
  
She stepped over the entranceway.  
  
"Welcome to Wolfram and Hart. Elevator that way, stairs the other," he pointed. She looked around, nervously. Big time evil lawyers, demons, and clients were all in this building. Locked away somewhere were prophecies that told her what she was.  
  
One small problem. She was actually scared of what stood between her and them.  
  
He glanced at her.  
  
"Of course, if you need help," he drawled, with an annoyingly cocky smirk. "I wouldn't be accused of not helping the damsel in distress."  
  
"I dislike you," she said bluntly, kicking her inner voice with steel capped Doctor Martins to a chorus of protests. Inner voice was so gonna die. He wasn't that hot. Much.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"Prophecy room."  
  
He nodded. And walked away.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked, panicking. He turned around.  
  
"Prophecy room?"  
  
"Right," she answered uneasily. Great. It was gonna be a case of 'see-how- far-Izzy-could-embarrass-herself' tonight. Dandy.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Where are you going?" Fred asked, frowning, as Angel flipped the catch open on the weapons cupboard.  
  
"Out. To save people," Lin answered, evasively. "Because, this is a saving- y agency. That saves people. While out."  
  
Angel gave him a weird look.  
  
'We're going to get Izzy," he reminded the teenager. "She's at Wolfram and Hart."  
  
"Oh," Lin said in a small voice. How was he supposed to know which stuff was secret, and private-eye-like, and which was regular stuff?  
  
"Oh. Wolfram and Hart?" Fred repeated, her eyes widening. "That's not so good."  
  
"Yeah. I'd thought with Lindsey there, and Fa-" Angel shook his head. "Lilah's evil. It is a proven fact. Yet when she's headless, she looks oddly helpless."  
  
"You're not to blame," Fred patted his arm comfortingly. Lin wondered if the entire agency had gone slightly mushy, like cookies left out for too long, and then he started thinking about cookies, and lost his thought train.  
  
"So we'll go in, and get her, and then come back. Simple," Angel said, hefting a sword. Lin stared at it.  
  
"What's the sword for?" he asked. Angel looked at the sword.  
  
"Insurance policy."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Okay. I'm writing waaay too long chapters.  
  
If you wanna see more of Nate, check out 'Trick or Treat with a Cookie on Top'. 


	14. Prophecy Girl

A/N: Nate stuff, an explanation, and you'll see some neat stuff next chapter.. including Izzy's birth mom. Not telling any more. Also, I refuse to update unless I get reviews. Tough though it is, chapters have been getting more distant as they're harder to write. You want more, tell me.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"What are you looking for?" he asked, as he opened the door. Izzy shrugged, trying to look nonchalant.  
  
"Um, the Gatekeeper. Of a hellmouth."  
  
He nodded. "Right. Okay. Which one?"  
  
"Huh?" she said, confused.  
  
"Hellmouth. Which one?"  
  
"Um, uh, it's in Cleveland. A big hellmouth-y Cleveland. Where demons are. Not that I know. Because I'm not, from-there, uh, yeah. Cleveland. The hellmouth is in Cleveland."  
  
He raised an eyebrow and walked over to a low table, on which the standard computer sat, to begin typing.  
  
"There's a search engine?" Izzy exclaimed. He looked up.  
  
"If you know the password."  
  
"Oh." She fell silent again.  
  
"There's a list. Have fun," he said, his hand on the door knob. She glanced at him.  
  
"You're going?" she asked, trying not to sound like it mattered.He shrugged.  
  
"I don't do desk work."  
  
He left, cute butt and all. Izzy sighed. Crazy mixed up feelings for her best friend led to immense cravings for eye candy.  
  
She scanned the page he'd left up. "Epginian scrolls. Vol 782. References in the Tarka prophecies, Daryan and Hanthros chronicles. Great. Just a little light reading," she murmured.  
  
She looked around the room for the books that matched the reference. There were a lot. The prophecy room was big. Ceiling to floor shelving, containing stacks of books. A large ornamental moose's head hung on the wall.  
  
"All night," she added.  
  
Pretty soon, she came to the conclusion that someone had been researching the same idea. All the references to the Gatekeeper were not in the library. The only one left was-  
  
"Hanthros," Izzy said out loud her hand closing on the book. She flipped it open to the page reference on the search engine, and scanned the page. "Bingo," she whispered, reading the prophecy out loud.  
  
'For the one who is chosen, and holds the keys  
  
The inferno boils  
  
The doe purchasing souls and succubi  
  
And he who sees in the shadows, and waits  
  
They came together in darkness,  
  
Untouched flesh, mewling  
  
Crazy children jangling the gates  
  
She is coming'  
  
"Okay. Does it ever come in non-cryptic?" Izzy muttered. "And I have to work it out. Without Giles. This is gonna take me a while."  
  
'One who is chosen and holds the keys' sounded like a gatekeeper to her. 'The inferno', fancy way of saying hell, she dismissed.  
  
The doe, though. What was a doe? There was a niggling feeling like she knew what it was. And why was 'Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens' playing through her head?  
  
"This is Wolfram and Hart's new security system," she said in disbelief. "Running Julie Andrews re-runs through my head. It's gonna drive me mad."  
  
"Doe, a deer, a female deer, ray, a drop of golden sun," she sang, absently. 'Doe a deer, a female deer.'  
  
"Just out of interest, are my thought patterns weird and random to you, or is this just me?" she addressed a moose hanging on the wall.  
  
"So I have a doe. A doe is a deer. A weird deer, buying souls and succubi. Ewww, big on the yuck with the succubi. And I have 'he who sees in the shadows'. Why is he a shadows guy? And what does he see?"  
  
She tossed down the manuscript in frustration.  
  
"I need Giles," she moaned. Giles didn't magically appear in a puff of smoke, so she figured Izzy's wish-day wasn't up, or that Anya had gone demon-y, and picked up the prophecy.  
  
"Came together in darkness, untouched flesh," she read aloud, wrinkling her nose. "This is beginning to read like a film noir sex scene. Either that, or Anne Rice."  
  
She looked at the moose again. It was a friendly moose, she decided.  
  
"Is this a kinky prophecy?" she asked plaintively. The moose didn't answer.  
  
"So the deer and the guy waiting get it together in the dark. I can understand that, no one wants to see kinky deer sex, but what does it have to do with the Gatekeeper?" she complained.  
  
She glanced up at the moose again, and read the Wolfram and Hart logo beneath it. Instead of the uber-stylish and elegant 'Wolfram and Hart' in gold block letters, this one was all latin-y and shield-y. There was a little wolf, and a goat with horns, and a little dog-like thing that was really skinny, over the company motto,and-  
  
She looked again, closer. She hadn't realized Wolfram and Hart was exactly that. Wolf, Ram and Hart. What was a Hart?  
  
"A deer," she realized. She looked down at the prophecy. 'The doe purchasing souls and succubi' became a Wolfram and Hart lawyer, dealing in demons and icky clients. A female lawyer.  
  
"Oh God, my real mom worked here," Izzy's eyes widened. She read the prophecy again, feverishly.  
  
"He who sees in the shadows, and waits. What's this guy waiting for? Why does he see? Seeing, waiting, what's he looking at? Shadows?" She looked over it again. What was this guy watching?  
  
"Watching. Watching. Someone who sees, is watching. He's a Watcher. The lawyer and a watcher-"  
  
She followed her thoughts through to their logical conclusion, and bolted from the room. She knew who her birth parents were.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
They strode through the door determinedly, prepared to do battle to release the girl they were looking for. Angel's coat billowed in that billow-y way it had, Lin shouldered his battle axe, the alarms blared, the guard rose to protest, and-  
  
"Mr Angel!" a woman stepped forward, smiling warmly. "It's nice to see you, sir. Is there something you want?"  
  
Angel looked at Lin. Lin looked at Angel.  
  
"No battle then, huh?" Lin asked wistfully.  
  
"There's a girl, she would have broken in-" Angel began. The smile on the woman's face didn't change.  
  
"Yes. She left about fifteen minutes ago," she said brightly. Angel frowned.  
  
"She couldn't have done- What happened to the firm's anti-intruders policy?" he demanded.  
  
"The alarms didn't go off. We only noticed her presence when she left," the woman shrugged. She beamed again.  
  
"Actually, sir, we've been needing you to come into the office for a while now. There are some papers, requiring authorization-"  
  
Lin sighed. So much for 'damsels in distress'.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
Izzy knocked on the front door, shivering a little. Part nerves, part being soaked with rain, she waited for the door to open.  
  
Lilah pulled open the door to see a skinny teenager, clothes plastered to her body, standing in front of her apartment.  
  
"What do you want?" Lilah asked, eyebrows raised questioningly.  
  
"Can I come in?" Izzy asked, a little uncertainly. Lilah nodded.  
  
"Good luck," she said, walking into the apartment. Izzy frowned. What did that mean?  
  
She stopped thinking when an incredibly familiar guy sauntered into the room, one she recognised.  
  
"Nate," Izzy said in surprise. He stopped, face freezing in confusion.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he asked, folding his arms.  
  
"Same question," she shot back.  
  
"I live here," he raised an eyebrow. "That's my mother."  
  
His mother?  
  
Izzy looked back at Lilah, and then at Nate, and it began to slot into place. Wesley's dark hair, Lilah's eyes, and the only question left was why?  
  
"It's not me," she whispered. "It's him."  
  
"What?" Nate asked, leaning against the door. Izzy looked at Lilah, and saw panic on the woman's face.  
  
"You knew," she realised, looking at the woman. Lilah shot her an angry look.  
  
"Is anyone going to tell me what you both know that I don't?" Nate drawled.  
  
"The Gatekeeper, the prophecy I was looking for. I thought it was me, but it wasn't. It was- It's you. You're the Gatekeeper," Izzy blurted out. Nate half-smiled.  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"Look," she said, shoving the book at him. "The doe, it's her. Part of Wolfram and Hart. And your father is a Watcher. Wesley, he slept with Lilah way back then. They were together. You're Lilah's son, she's never had a daughter, and your father is-"  
  
Comprehension dawned on Nate's face, then anger.  
  
"You knew," he said softly, facing his mother. Lilah's face remained cold, no emotion crossing it.  
  
"Yes," she said slowly. He nodded, his face even. She, the girl, whose name he didn't even know, had said this hellmouth was in Cleveland. Cleveland. He'd been to three different dimensions on Wolfram and Hart errands, but he'd never been to Cleveland. Now he was a 'Gatekeeper' of it. He'd thought she was pretty, and a little bit weird. In a good way. Now, he felt numb.  
  
"A while," she said almost helplessly.  
  
"And Dad? Does he know?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
Izzy stood there, frozen to the spot. Mom had said they'd searched for the gatekeeper for training, that there was a 'role' to play. Nate hadn't been trained. He'd been kept from it.  
  
"So how did you know about this?' Nate turned on her.  
  
"My mom, she searched for the Gatekeeper. When I was a baby. She must have thought I was it, because she adopted me. We live on it, the hellmouth. My family," she said, uncomfortably.  
  
"The witch," Lilah said quietly, understanding. The redhead. And the vampire, hunting through the prophecies. Her mind flicked to the parchment on her desk, and the hours spent searching for something about her son.  
  
"You could come back with us. My friend and I, we're staying with Angel, but we're gonna go home. Soon. If you want a ride to see what you're the guardian of-" Izzy broke off.  
  
He nodded, his face blank. "Yeah."  
  
He walked down the corridor, and disappeared from view, then came back, tucking keys into his pocket. He put a hand on the door, and yanked it open violently, then walked straight through it. Izzy glanced back, before following him.  
  
Lilah stood fixed to the spot, still where she'd been. She didn't move. Izzy silently closed the door behind her.  
  
Lilah Morgan didn't generally show affection. It wasn't a very evil-lawyer thing to do, and let the people at the top of the firm know she was a woman. Being an ancient force on the side of evil tended to date a firm, and it had leanings on the side of chauvinism.  
  
But as her son walked out the door, not even looking at her, she picked up the phone, and dialled the law firm, prepared to find anything to help her boy.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
They sat in the taxi in silence. She could see his knuckles were white, his hands were knotted together in his lap, and he stared out of the window at the dawning sun, unseeing.  
  
"Do you want me to tell you about it?" she said softly. He shrugged.  
  
"I kinda know how you feel," she said quietly. "The weirdness. And the lying. It hurts. And I know. I went through it." She took a deep breath. "And they'll help. My mom, Buffy, Xander, Dawn, Anya, all of them. They'll help, I promise."  
  
"Right," he said, and fell silent again.  
  
"Well, my mom is Willow. Willow Rosenberg. And I'm Izzy, by the way. Isara." She shook her head. "Weird name, long story. Buffy is- you know who she is. Xander and Mom were her best friends. Xander married Anya, and they have two kids, Lin, who is my friend, and Libby, his little sister. Dawn is Buffy's sister, and she has three kids." She tailed off, as they approached the Hyperion. She'd been babbling. And he was silent. Not so good.  
  
She paid the taxi guy, and opened the door, stepping into the street.  
  
They walked through the glass doors, and into the hotel's lobby. Lin rushed towards her, flinging his arms around her, nearly knocking Izzy off her feet. She laughed, and hugged him back.  
  
"Lin, this is Nate. Nate, this is Lin," she said, still smiling. Nate nodded.  
  
"So you found something," Lin stated. "At Wolfram and Hart." He saw the look Izzy had when she looked at Nate, and felt his stomach drop. He'd seen the look before. All Izzy puppy-eyes.  
  
"Yeah. I found out that," she paused. "Where's Angel?"  
  
"Here," said the vampire, walking in. "Izzy, I told you about-"  
  
"Big evil firm, yadayada," Izzy interrupted. "I handled it." Nate looked at her.  
  
"Okay, Nate helped," Izzy said defensively. "I have news. I read a prophecy in there, and it either predicted kinky deer sex, or Nate's the Gatekeeper, not me."  
  
"What?" Willow said, from the steps above her.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Review! 


	15. Mommy

A/N: Fairly fluffy chapter, cuz of the whole Willow/Izzy bonding. Next chapter should be back to normal in Cleveland, before the real plot begins. Lol. The Gatekeeper is just the beginning. And I guess you're all dying to know who Izzy's birth parents were, if Lilah and Wes weren't?  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Mommy," Lexi tugged at Dawn's leg. "When's Aunt Willow back?"  
  
"Soon, pumpkin," Dawn lifted the child up, and sat her on the counter. Lexi giggled.  
  
"Mommy?" she asked again, kicking her legs. "Is IzzynLin gonna be back soon too? Cuz Ryan and I wanna play kidnap."  
  
Dawn laughed.  
  
"What about Wills?" she asked. Lexi shook her head decisively.  
  
"Nope. He's too little. We want someone big and stupid."  
  
Dawn thought about the teens. She'd had the impression Izzy wasn't the big bad she thought she wanted to be, when she'd run. She was aching for her Mommy to love her.  
  
"C'mon pumpkin. Let's go play with the others okay?"  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Willow walked down the steps to her daughter, her mind racing. All the fights, and discussions, and prophecies, the solution had been staring them in the face, and she hadn't accepted it.  
  
"Can't say I'm uber-surprised," she said quietly. Izzy's eyebrows shot up, and she folded her arms across her chest defensively.  
  
"Well considering the basis of adopting me was being the Gatekeeper, don't you think you should be?" she challenged, looking at Nate. His face was still stony.  
  
Willow sighed, running her hand along the stair rail, thinking.  
  
"You're mad because you think I adopted you because you were the Gatekeeper," she stated, meeting Izzy's eyes. Izzy lifted her chin.  
  
"Sweetheart, I was looking for the Gatekeeper, and I found you. I adopted you because you were you, not because you were the guardian of the hellmouth. It was a reason to, not the motivation," she said softly, reaching out to tuck a lock of Izzy's hair behind her ear.  
  
Izzy's stance didn't soften.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded. Willow smiled wistfully.  
  
"I wanted to hold onto you," she whispered, holding Izzy close. "And I did. For a while."  
  
"Somebody, for the love of all things good and , pass me a stake," Xander begged, striding through the entrance way. Spike pushed past him, huddled under his blanket.  
  
Nate looked at Izzy, and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged.  
  
"Xander, and Spike."  
  
"Who's that?" Xander frowned, looking at Nate.  
  
"Nate," Izzy answered, as if it was obvious.  
  
"Who's Nate?" Xander looked from face to face.  
  
"The Gatekeeper," Willow said helpfully.  
  
"Is there something I'm missing? Last time I checked, Izzy was the Gatekeeper, and ran away with my son."  
  
"A kinky deer sex prophecy," Lin answered. Xander's expression was a cross between confusion, and disgust.  
  
"I've been in a car with Spike for a little over two days," he said finally. "That statement is disturbing."  
  
"It's five thirty am, and according to Angel, you haven't been home since you got here. Much as I know you hate the whole Mom thing," Willow said, rolling her eyes, "I think sleep is an idea big with the good."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"So, this would be your room," she said, opening the door. He nodded, walking in.  
  
She followed him in, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Izzy fiddled with the edge of her sleeve.  
  
"Angel has this whole policy of keeping the fifties décor. I think he likes pretending he's only two hundred," she tried to keep her voice light.  
  
"It's okay," Nate answered, looking around.  
  
"So, I'll leave you to it- sleep, always of the good, big on sleep," she babbled, looking towards the door.  
  
"Thanks," he said, watching her. She seemed nice, different. She had an extended family, friends, he'd caught the way her friend Lin had stared at him, hostile. She was protected. He wasn't exactly being greeted by the Welcome Wagons, but he hadn't expected it. She was trying to make this stuff better.  
  
She smiled, and reached for the door.  
  
"It's okay. I guess it's all weird and stuff, strange person walking in, making your life different," she took a breath. "I just- I know how it feels. And apart from the whole weird girl showing up and telling you you have some freaky destiny thing, I had it too. I get it," she smiled again.  
  
He sat down on the bed, and thought about it for a moment. She'd been the Gatekeeper, something he didn't even really know about. He just was.  
  
"Why did you think it was me?" he asked, folding his arms. "Why wasn't I suddenly your brother or something?"  
  
"I guess," she stopped, thinking back. The feelings when she'd seen him and Lilah, and known that this woman couldn't have been her mother, that he couldn't be- And the rightness that the power had been lifted from her.  
  
"It didn't feel wrong, that you were the Gatekeeper, not me," she said slowly. "It hadn't felt right, since I first found out. You being it, him," she looked up at him, and smiled. "It was okay. Plus, I kinda didn't want you to be my brother," she said quickly, looking away from him.  
  
He thought that one through, and then smiled.  
  
"Well, I'm gonna go," she said uncomfortably, twisting her fingers together. "We're gonna fly back to Cleveland in a couple of days, so-"  
  
He nodded, and watched her leave. He grinned. She thought he was hot.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Izzy?" Willow came over and sat down on the bed. Izzy groaned.  
  
"Do you think it's possible to actually have discussions that don't involve me being in any way awake at this point in time?" her muffled voice came out from under the bedclothes.  
  
Willow thought about it a moment. "Nope," she grinned.  
  
"Is anything I say gonna make you go away?" Izzy's voice had a hopeful note in it.  
  
"Don't think so," Willow said, considering it. "Talkage means I don't conjure water over your bed." There was another groan from the lump in the bed.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm getting up."  
  
Willow rose from the bed.  
  
"Mom?"  
  
The redheaded witch looked back at the bed. Izzy's head poked out from the comforter wrapped around her.  
  
"I know you loved me and all, but who were my real parents?" she asked. Willow smiled softly, and sat back down.  
  
"I know it's like, a weird question first thing, but I want to know," Izzy said looking down. Willow shook her head.  
  
"It's not weird. I don't know who your father was, but I knew your mother. We were searching for the Gatekeeper, looking for a child with magical abilities, and I found you. Tara's cousin, Beth, was your mother," she said, reaching out to stroke Izzy's hair. "She was alone, scared, she had a baby she couldn't look after, and Tara's family weren't the poster people for togetherness. I saw you, and I fell in love. You were an itty bitty piece of Tara, and you were magical from the beginning. You fit the puzzle piece, and I took you home."  
  
Izzy's eyes searched her face, as Willow wandered through the memories.  
  
"Angel and Spike, they'd helped me find the prophecies, they were convinced some things didn't fit, there were some inferences that the guardian was male this time, or, a hundred different things that didn't quite fit, but could be made to. I wanted you so badly, I convinced myself you were who I thought you were. All the arguments in L.A, Spike's visit, Angel and he were trying to get me to tell you who you were, or to keep looking. But," Willow shrugged. "Spike opened his fat mouth."  
  
"So I'm like, Tara's niece, cousin?" Izzy asked. Willow shook her head.  
  
"I don't know the connection. But you're a part of her, and you're a part of me. And I love you," she added, kissing the top of Izzy's head.  
  
"Love you too," Izzy replied sleepily. "Can I go back to sleep now?"  
  
"Nope," Willow shook her head. "We're going home."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Yup, fluffy and all. Next chapter, Nate and Cleveland.  
  
REVIEW!!! 


	16. Much ado about Izzy

A/N: Having realised my plot works just as well in a sequel, (thanks Jen!) this is gonna be wrapped up pretty shortly. So, you like it, you want a sequel, tell me.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Lincoln Capitalist Harris knew one thing only at this point in time. He knew one thing, because that one thing was a huge deal, and although he realised he was being petty, obnoxious, and everything else besides, that one thing concerned him more than anything else could. He knew that he did not want Nathaniel Morgan to be staying in his house, in his town, in Cleveland, where Izzy, his friend, would have ample opportunity to do the Izzy-things she did to get a guy.  
  
A guy, Lin noticed, with increasing annoyance, who seemed to be perfectly willing to be gotten.  
  
"Hey Lin," Izzy called cheerfully, letting the door swing shut behind her. Lin grunted through his bowl of cereal. Izzy rolled her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, that's uber-friendly," she drawled. She reached into one of the cupboards, and pulled out a bowl. She grabbed the cereal off the table, and poured some into her bowl.  
  
"Izzy, do you ever eat at home?" Lin gestured with his spoon. She shook her head, and added milk to her cereal. She took a huge mouthful.  
  
"Nope," she said, swallowing quickly. "I figure if I eat here for the rest of my lifetime, then it will equal the stuff you eat in a day at mine."  
  
He rolled his eyes. She stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"Oh, hi Nate," he said conversationally. Izzy almost swallowed her tongue, looking around at the still-asleep walking zombie. How Izzy found the mussed hair, and sweatpants cute first thing in the morning, Lin had no idea.  
  
"Hey," he yawned. He looked at Izzy through bleary eyes. "Goin' back to bed," he mumbled, and wandered out.  
  
"Nice," Lin said sarcastically. "To know personal hygiene is top of the list of his priorities."  
  
"What's biting your butt?" Izzy asked, raising one eyebrow, leaning against the counter to polish off the rest of her cereal.  
  
"Nothing," he shrugged. He was going with the 'Nate will be evil' thought plan. It worked, it was entirely possible, and considering Izzy's past history with guys, it was highly likely.  
  
"Okay," she said, shoving her bowl in the sink. "It's just you have a something face. Something face doesn't generally mean nothing's wrong."  
  
"Nothing is wrong," he stated, meeting her eyes. She shrugged.  
  
"Okay." She took a quick swig from the OJ carton, and wiped her mouth. "See ya then."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Lin lay back moodily on his bed, thrashing characters from one of his video games on his TV, the room strewn with junk.  
  
"Hey," Nate acknowledged Lin, with a brief nod. Lin looked up from pulverising a man bristling spikes, and nodded curtly back. Nate dropped onto the couch with a sigh.  
  
"What's up?" he drawled. Lin shrugged tightly.  
  
"Nothing," he answered evasively. "Just playing around." He indicated the screen.  
  
"Surprised Izzy isn't with you," Nate watched Lin kill another opponent, his eyes flickering idly over the room.  
  
Lin shot him an annoyed look. "Oh yeah. What, you like her?" he challenged. Nate shoved dark hair out of his eyes.  
  
"Yeah. She's cute, y'know? Short and light-haired, not normally what I go for, but hey-" Nate gave him a wicked little smile. "Cute. If you two have a-" he shrugged, "Marking your territory? I only asked because she's been here every day."  
  
"We don't," Lin said firmly, regretting what he was saying. "What do you mean she's not what you go for?"  
  
Nate shrugged again, picking up Lin's guitar from beside the bed, and bent over it.  
  
"I mean, I don't normally go for them like that. She's more the girlfriend type, and I don't do 'em," he said simply, picking out a riff on Lin's guitar. "Girlfriends mean you have to make sure of feelings and stuff. If people are gonna get hurt, I stay away."  
  
Lin's eyes narrowed.  
  
"So you're not interested?" he clarified. Nate looked up from the guitar, and grinned.  
  
"Didn't say that."  
  
"Well, she's probably not interested," Lin said dismissively, hoping now that the new Gatekeeper wouldn't ask Izzy out.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Maybe that's not a good idea," Dawn said idly. "He's just eaten his lunch."  
  
"No," Xander said happily. "He loves it, don't you big guy?" He tossed Wills into the air again.  
  
"Will get down now," the toddler said, looking slightly green.  
  
"Uh, I suggest you put him down," Izzy said, wandering in. "The last time he did that, it involved lots, and lots of barf."  
  
Wills gave a small hiccup.  
  
'Xander, please put down the small human, before it vomits over you," Anya insisted. Xander swung Wills down onto the ground.  
  
"I just wanted to ask what you were gonna get Mom," Izzy shrugged. "What with all the other stuff, I'm trying to work on ideas."  
  
"Buffy and I were going to give her a book," Dawn said. "Giles found it, it's the uber-spell book. It's written in another language, so my part of the present is translating it."  
  
"That sounds cool," Izzy nodded. Anya smiled at her.  
  
"Xander and I decided not to spend money on Willow, as the current price rises mean it isn't economically sound to buy meaningless things," she said confidently. "We're making a cake."  
  
"Again, cool," Izzy said thoughtfully. "I don't really know what to get."  
  
"Just get her something from you," Xander put in. "She's Willow. She'll love it." Izzy grinned.  
  
"Guess she will."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Next few chapters will lead up to Willow's birthday, with some fluff. Also, because of awards and stuff, plus, I have a job now which means updates will be less frequent. If you want more of my stuff, check out Little Hero, and Replay on my profile.  
  
REVIEW!! 


	17. Birthday and the end

A/N: Last chapter of Izzy. Very LONG chapter of Izzy. Discussion of future Izzy-ness is at the bottom. Also, if you want to see the characters of Izzy, go to my profile page for a link to a site on which I have photos of all the characters! On with the last (fluff filled) chapter.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Happy birthday to you," Izzy sang tunelessly, carrying the tray carefully, on which she'd arranged a pale yellow rose in a little white vase, a cup of coffee, and a plate of toast and honey as a breakfast-in-bed. She placed one sneaker-ed foot in the doorway, and bumped the door with her hip. Willow sat up in bed, and smiled sleepily.  
  
"Yay me," she yawned, stretching her arms above her head, the white linen covers falling further down. "Breakfast-in-bed." She grinned at Izzy and raised her eyebrows. "Does this come with an antidote?"  
  
"Mom!" Izzy complained, setting the tray down, and folding her arms. "Its just breakfast."  
  
"Yeah, but is it lethal?" Willow muttered good-naturedly, picking up a piece of warm toast, and biting into it. Honey ran down her fingers, and kid-like, she licked them. "Mm. A perfect yum."  
  
"Good," Izzy nodded, a little grin breaking out on her face. "Happy birthday."  
  
"Yup. Always a good thing. There'll be cake, and ice cream, and the little jellies, in cups?" Willow shaped them with her hands, smiling happily. A frown suddenly crossed her face, and she looked up at Izzy, pleadingly. "There will be those little jellies in cups, won't there?"  
  
"Sometimes, for a forty year old woman, you scare me utterly," Izzy stated, raising one eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be over jello and ice cream at the age of, oh say five?"  
  
"Yeah," Willow shrugged, and flashed her daughter a beaming smile. "Who cares? I want my jello!"  
  
"You're so childish," Izzy informed her. Willow held up a finger, holding her toast in her right hand to take another bite of dripping crispy breakfast.  
  
"Don't forget the forty years old and childish," she said sweetly, swallowing. Izzy rolled her eyes.  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Sweetie, are you sure Aunt Willow wants that?" Dawn asked desperately. Her policy on present buying had been to let the kids pick, and they sure came first in the 'originality' stakes. However, whether Willow wanted handpicked gifts from a five and three year old hadn't crossed her mind until they'd paid for everything (Lexi had had a slight crisis with the little boy from pre-school she hated) and now it was way too late, other than if the bath oils, and soaps and stuff she'd gotten was from all of them.  
  
"Yup," Lexi nodded, her two little pigtails bobbing high on her head. She grinned happily at her mother, showing off a mouthful of tiny white baby teeth. "Aunt Willow wants it." Dawn surveyed the princess crown that Lexi had been eyeing in the toy store for several weeks, and wondered exactly when Aunt Willow had expressed a desire for gold plastic set with tiny fake jewels.  
  
"Ryan?" she turned to her son. He shoved his hands in his pockets with typical Spike-like attitude.  
  
"Why'd you choose this for Willow?' she asked, her forehead creasing in bewilderment. The guinea pig in its cage snuffled a bit, and twitched its nose. Ryan shrugged.  
  
"It said it liked Willows," he answered in a very five-year-old way. "And I want one, to keep Aunt Willow's company."  
  
"Ryan, sweetie, last week, you wanted a dog," Dawn reasoned. "The week before, it was a monkey."  
  
"And 'fore that, it was an llaligator," Lexi supplied helpfully, bending down to poke the guinea pig.  
  
"Lexi, honey, please don't do that," Dawn said, slightly frazzled. "Wills?"  
  
"Mommy, Will want turt," he announced, hugging the brightly colored stuffed turtle that he'd picked out for Willow. The turtle's stitched on face had a slightly desperate look about it, as if two-year-old cookie crumbs, and drool, and mystery stickiness had already let it know it was doomed.  
  
The doorbell rang, before Dawn could do anymore.  
  
"Hey," Xander called. "Door open, we came in."  
  
"Hi guys," Dawn replied, scooping up the gifts, and grabbing the wrapping paper, and tape.  
  
"Hi," Libby said cheerfully, with a bright smile. She was remarkably similar to Anya, with longish pale brown hair, big brown eyes, and a gleeful aspect to all things money-ish.  
  
"Ooh, pretty present," Dawn stopped to admire the green packaged box with it's little gold prints. She looked closer. The prints were from Libby's stamp set, the latest one hundred dollar bill stamp. Anya had also instilled in her several manifestoes.  
  
"It's to promote general good feeling and happiness, with much riches," she said, equally cheerfully. "I got her a money box. Shaped like a pig. Daddy said it was retro."  
  
"Uh huh," Dawn nodded, wondering if any of Willow's gifts were going to be what the redheaded wicca really wanted.  
  
"Dawnie? Got a freezer I can borrow for the ice-cream?" Xander asked, hefting a five pint haul of chocolate cookie dough ice cream.  
  
"Whoa, that's a lot of sugar," Dawn exclaimed, her eyes widening. "I mean, uh, whoa, that's a lot of sugar."  
  
"We enjoy ice cream," Anya said happily, touching Xander's arm. "It can be eaten in a variety of ways, including off body parts, which is nice within sex. Also, it's cold. Much stimulation," she nodded. Xander blushed.  
  
Libby however, was completely unfazed. Instead of learning sex ed from the playground, she'd recited positions from the Kama Sutra to a whole host of disbelieving classmates.  
  
"Moving on," Dawn smiled brightly. 'Willow's party. Decorations needed."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * `  
  
"Why the blindfold?" Willow asked, a reasonable tone in her voice, as she fumbled her way up the steps to Dawn's house.  
  
"It's tradition," Izzy encouraged. "C'mon, jello, ice-cream and cake is only a short walk away."  
  
"Yay," Willow grinned. She stumbled on a step, and knocked her knee. "It better be red jello," she grumbled.  
  
"What is it with you and red jello?" Izzy mumbled, following her mom into the house. Willow stepped over the threshold. Several party poppers exploded, sending multicoloured streamers that caught in her red hair.  
  
"Happy birthday!" people shouted. Izzy caught Nate's eye, and looked away, blushing slightly.  
  
"Ooh, yay," Willow smiled.  
  
"Party," Dawn said simply, wandering out from the kitchen, then back in again.  
  
The kids led Willow over to the couch, and music began playing in the background.  
  
"I'm gonna get the cake," Xander announced.  
  
"Left over frosting," Dawn called from the kitchen. Anya and Xander exchanged furtive looks.  
  
"Cake," Xander repeated. "I'll help with that," Anya added. They scurried towards the kitchen, and excess frosting.  
  
"Mommy and Daddy are gonna go have sex," Libby announced to the room at general.  
  
"Hi," Izzy said, touching Nate's arm lightly. He looked up from the CD stack he was flipping through, and gave her a lopsided smile.  
  
"Hey," he drawled, letting his eyes drift over her. Izzy felt her cheeks heat up.  
  
"Uh, how are things at Lin's?" she ventured, trying not to sound so much like a twelve year old with a crush. He nodded thoughtfully, his dark eyes on hers.  
  
"It's good," he said non-commitally. He smiled again. "I'd better go help or something. I'll see you later."  
  
He walked away, leaving her kind of puzzled, and bewildered. He grinned to himself.  
  
The music played in the background was soft, and mellow as they finished off the ice cream and cake.  
  
"Okay, presents!" Willow announced, setting down her blue pottery bowl, and clapping her hands.  
  
"Okay, first from Anya and me and Lin," Xander handed Willow a small package. She smiled excitedly, and shredded the yellow paper, printed with little smiley suns. She pulled out a DVD of Moulin Rouge.  
  
"Cuz I know your copy got scratched, and stopped at chapter 32 because you didn't like the ending," Xander explained. Willow's smile softened.  
  
"Thanks Xander, Anya, Lin," she replied, admiring the DVD. "Okay, now gimme gimme gimme."  
  
"Grabby," Buffy said, with raised eyebrows. "I got you a bibbity bobbity. Don't know what it does, but Giles picked it out for me." She handed Willow a polaroid.  
  
"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed, her eyes wide. "This is like, rare are. Extremely rare. As in, three or four copies in the whole entire world!"  
  
"So it's a cool bibbity bobbity," Buffy shrugged.  
  
"My present," Lexi announced, shoving a badly wrapped present, covered in bits of sticky tape. Willow picked it up, and spent five seconds picking tape off her fingers.  
  
"I wrapped it," Lexi said proudly, bouncing up and down on the couch, her skirt flying up.  
  
"It's lovely, Lexi. A very pretty crown," Willow put it on her head. "See? Queen for a day."  
  
"Mine mine," Wills shouted loudly. Willow took the squishy package from the little boy, and unwrapped it. The little turtle, with its bright colours looked a little happy to be first rescued from the small toddler, with dirt- magnetism, and then paper.  
  
"Oh, a cute turtle," she hugged it, hoping that the dubious looking stickyness would come off the cute turtle. Wills' eyes opened wide in indignation.  
  
"MINE MINE!" he repeated, shouting. Willow handed the stuffed animal to him, wincing.  
  
"Ryan?" she asked, tentatively. Lexi was already twirling around wearing Willow's crown, and ignoring the rest of the gang.  
  
"Here,' he shoved the box at her.  
  
"Oh my god," Willow gasped, ripping off the paper. "A guinea pig?" Her voice was both surprised, and squeaky in that whole tonal range of 'what in hell?'  
  
"You don't like it?" Ryan asked, crestfallen, poking out his bottom lip.  
  
"Yeah, of course I do," she assured him. "I'll name him.. Jello. Red Jello."  
  
"Obsessed," Izzy repeated incredulously.  
  
"It's like a party favour," Willow said thoughtfully. "You know. Some people get balloons, I get a guinea pig named Red Jello." She poked her daughter. "Now. Gimme present."  
  
"Did you turn four today?" Izzy drawled, raising her eyebrows from her perch on the arm of the couch. Willow pushed her off.  
  
"Here, madwoman," Izzy muttered, shoving a red, shiny package at her mother. Willow shredded the paper faster than Lexi could produce a tantrum when she wanted something, and her eyes softened, a little glow lighting them up.  
  
"Izzy, it's wonderful," she said quietly, looking down into Tara's laughing face.  
  
"I used the computer to make it so we were in the picture," Izzy pointed out, leaning across. Willow stroked the glass of the silver photo frame with the tip of her finger.  
  
"It's beautiful," she smiled up at Izzy.  
  
"Birthday over," Buffy spoke up, where she was sitting holding tight to Wills. Willow nodded.  
  
"Yup. Lets hope next year is a little less eventful."  
  
"I don't know," Izzy said thoughtfully, glancing at Nate. "I like eventful." Lin glared. He didn't.  
  
"Eventful is fun," Xander put in, he and Anya reappearing in the doorway.  
  
"Okay, so here's to eventful," Willow said, lifting her empty little Dixie cup of jello. "May it be very so, next year."  
  
* ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: And that is the end of Izzy! However.. if you recall the prophesy, you'll see, there is a whole new story to come, so.. keep your eyes peeled for the next in the series, 'Hell Child' (working title) in which Izzy, Lin and Nate star. In it, Nate and Izzy stir things up a bit, Ryan decides to build a treehouse, and Lexi makes a friend, who is new to the neighbourhood.  
  
Of course, if you want the new fic, you're gonna have to let me know.  
  
REVIEW!! 


End file.
